Helene death toll tops 100 across six states, as N.C. towns await more help

SWANNANOA, N.C. - The once-raging river had mostly returned to its banks. But left behind here Sunday were glimpses of all it had held during the violence wrought by Helene.

There were items so heavy it was mind-boggling how they had been tossed about and carried for blocks or miles - a white Ram van, a refrigerator, someone’s wooden deck, huge chunks of pavement from collapsed roads, a metal shipping container, a portion of a fallen bridge. And also items small and personal, reminders of how the tragedy here left almost no one untouched - a purple sweater, a package of Peeps, a car tire.

It has been four days since Helene made landfall in Florida as a major hurricane and began spiraling up a swath of states. At least 104 deaths have been confirmed. Here in North Carolina, there have been at least 35 deaths. South Carolina, 29 deaths; Georgia, 25; Florida, 11; Tennessee, two; and Virginia, two. In towns from Florida to eastern Tennessee, roads remain inaccessible, communication systems remain challenged, search-and-rescue efforts continue and people are still waiting for water.

“We’re waiting on resources. I think everybody is,” Josh Harrold, town manager for Black Mountain, N.C., said outside the local police station. “Water is our big concern.”

Harrold said the small mountain town had requested whatever help it could get - from FEMA, from the state, from other fire and police and public works departments. Some help has begun to trickle in, but slowly.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) will visit Buncombe County, home to Black Mountain as well as the larger city of Asheville, later Monday alongside FEMA director Deanne Criswell.

“We are surging supplies into Asheville [and] airlifting them into areas that are unreachable by land,” Cooper told CNN. “The emotional and physical toll here is indescribable.”

But Buncombe County officials say they received their first shipment of water from three tanker trucks that arrived at 2:30 a.m. Monday. County officials say they’ll begin distributing water to residents Monday afternoon.

“We’ve been asking for water and we’re just getting water and it’s still in low quantities. There’s a large need in our community and we would like to see … a better response from our state partners,” said Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder, adding, “This is extremely frustrating.”

Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller confirmed 35 residents had died, including one sheriff’s deputy who died responding to the storm. Officials are organizing volunteers to conduct wellness checks on vulnerable residents. To conserve scarce gasoline and navigate bad roads, the volunteers will fan out on bicycles.

In Georgia, where the storm had killed at least 25 people, the death toll includes a 27-year-old mother with her twin 1-year-old boys; a 7-year-old boy and his 4-year-old sister who died when a tree fell on their burning house; and the assistant fire chief for the southeast Georgia city of Blackshear.

“This storm literally spared no one,” Gov. Brian Kemp (R) said Monday.

He was speaking from Augusta, near the South Carolina border, showing how widespread the storm was. (Augusta is more than a three-hour drive from Blackshear.)

Kemp said Helene was like a 250-mile-wide tornado that hit the entire state. Many of the areas most affected were inland communities not used to storms, meaning Helene felled old trees that had never seen such intense winds. Blocked roads and no electricity are still stymying crews.

“This is obviously going to be a very long recovery,” he said.

At the storm’s worst, Kemp said, at least 1.3 million Georgia Power customers were without electricity. The number is now close to 370,000, he said Monday morning, with 5,000 damaged poles.

No electricity means hampered communication. On Monday, approximately 328 Verizon sites were out of service, along with 258 AT&T sites, said James Stallings, head of Georgia’s emergency management.

And communication is vital as crews try to weave around tree-blocked roads to help people trapped in their homes. Because of the road conditions, Stallings said, it may be 72 hours before resources arrive.

Rep. Rick Allen (R-Ga.) said he and his wife were awakened to find that a 150-year-old tree had fallen on their roof, but thankfully it did not burst through.

He said some estimates declare Helene the “worst storm” Georgia has seen since that now-fallen tree sprouted

In Las Vegas on Sunday, Vice President Kamala Harris said she would “stand with these communities for as long as it takes to make sure that they are able to recover and rebuild.”

Harris noted that she plans to visit affected communities when the emergency response would not be disrupted.

Harrold, the town manager in Black Mountain, N.C., said the city recently sent out an emergency notification to residents - at least, any who could find cell or internet service - to leave if they could.

Because, he said, they “don’t know when resources are coming.”