ASHEVILLE, NC — It’s now the second weekend of recovery and resilience since Hurricane Helene tore through Florida and the Southeast, killing at least 232 people with hundreds more still unaccounted for from the deadliest mainland US hurricane since Katrina.
Communities are still reeling along Florida’s Big Bend, which took the brunt of Helene’s eye wall and storm surge, and in southern Georgia where Helene’s hurricane-force winds caused widespread property damage.
But it’s the widespread devastation of the mountainous communities of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee where the scope of the catastrophe continues to slowly come into focus.
Debris and damage remain strewn across entire cities as multiple rivers fed by 15-30 inches of rain swelled to well beyond record flood heights, sending torrents of water feet deep raging through streets and neighborhoods. It left behind unfathomable scenes of destruction — a mix of buildings, cars, trees, power lines and whatever else Helene’s torrential rains could sweep away.
Now, with rivers receded, faded water lines along the tops of homes and buildings mark the staggering heights floodwaters reached, and mountains of mud and debris leave a residual reminder of how neighborhoods became temporary river beds.
Amid the heartache of immense loss, communities across the hard-hit area face a dual challenge of cleaning up the mess and rebuilding neighborhoods, roads and critical power and water infrastructure. Rescue crews, engineers, linemen, doctors, nurses and relief workers are pouring in from across the country.
As more areas are searched for the first time, the death toll is expected to rise. The lack of phone service and electricity in the region hampers efforts to locate missing individuals.
Asheville, North Carolina Police Deputy Chief Sean Aardema said Friday his agency is still investigating 75 active missing persons cases. Their agency found and rescued three survivors who had been trapped in rubble all week and got them to medical treatment — two who were trapped in debris inside the Swannanoa River and another person who had been trapped in their home.
As of Thursday, Buncombe County in western North Carolina reported 200 still unaccounted for.
Many in the region are still required to boil water as water mains remain damaged and wells contaminated by dirty floodwaters. An initial study by CoreLogic estimates damage costs have already reached $30.5 billion to $47.5 billion.
Over half a million people across the Southeast still remain without power more than a week after Helene struck. Duke Energy says while 1.2 million power outages have been repaired so far in North Carolina, about 170,000 still remain in the western mountainous region.
The company says about 105,000 will be long-term outages due to destroyed infrastructure. A 200,000 pound mobile substation has been brought to Biltmore Village, as their main substation was covered by water and will need 3-4 months to repair.
Hospitals across the US were bracing for potential shortages of IV fluids and dialysis solutions after major supplier Baxter International’s medical plant suffered significant damage in Marion, North Carolina.
‘My grief today is unfathomable’
As the death toll climbs, communities are reeling for who they’ve lost among the destruction.
Kim Ashby, a 58-year-old seventh-grade teacher, is among the hundreds still unaccounted for in western North Carolina after her home was swept away by raging floodwaters.
She was with her husband in Elk Park when the nearby river swelled to engulf the home. As they tried to get out, debris struck the home, pulling it into the river and taking the Ashbys with it. Rod tried to hold onto Kim, but he lost his grip, and she was swept away, family members said.
“She’s just a happy, loving soul,” Meidinger said. “She’s known as Mama Kim to a lot of people, not just to her children. So she’s an incredibly vibrant individual that just spreads joy.”
In Asheville, Meghan Dry lost her 7-year-old son and both parents when they had to scramble to their roof to escape the floods, only to have the home break apart.
“My son called out to the one God Almighty. And I think at that moment he was rescued, and he became my hero, and I think all of them carried me through that moment,” Drye said. “My grief today is unfathomable. I’m sorrowful. I feel broken.”
In Erwin, Tennessee, employees and family members are mourning the loss of several workers at Impact Plastics, who were swept away trying to escape the raging Nolichucky River through town.
One of the presumed dead is Rosy Reynoso, a 29-year-old devoted wife and mother of two.
“At one point, she called her husband and said, ‘This is bad. I don’t think I’m going to make it. Can you tell our kids how much I love them and take care of them?” Annabel Andrade said as she held back her tears.
‘I knew there was nobody else coming’
For the survivors, many had harrowing tales of escaping the rushing waters.
John Zara and his family had to scramble to the roof of their home in Swannanoa as the river reached well beyond record levels.
“Within an hour or less the water went from street level to inside my house to up to my chest,” Zara said. Neighbor John Arndt and another came with kayaks to pluck Zara, his wife and two young kids off the roof, but the rescues weren’t done.
“Folks started to hear some noise over there (next door homes) and realized they were trapped in their attic,” Zara said. Two men who lived nearby made it over with an ax and cut the roofs open, rescuing two families and their dogs trapped inside their attics.
“There were sheds floating down (the street),” Arndt said. “We had to dodge tires, cars, washing machines, anything you could think of. It was just surreal. It was it was crazy.”
But they all made it to safety.
“There’s not enough thanks and graciousness in the world I can bestow upon them,” Zara said. “We owe our lives, my family’s lives and those other family’s lives to those two gentlemen that were able to get a kayak down to us…. I knew there was nobody else coming.”
But there were stories of perseverance as well.
A South Carolina man walked 17 miles through Helene’s destruction to still make it to his daughter’s wedding.
In hard-hit Asheville, volunteers and staff at an animal shelter managed to save over 100 pets by scrambling to get them out of harm’s way before flooding devastated the town.
“When I went there, and I saw everything underwater, it was just devastating,” said Leah Craig Chumbley of Brother Wolf Animal Rescue. “And also, my gosh, thank God we got them out … If we hadn’t done that, all of them would have perished in that building.”
East Tennessee native and country music star Dolly Parton announced Friday she would donate $1 million as part of a $10 million donation partnership with Walmart.
“These are my mountains, these are my valleys, there are my rivers flowing like a stream,” Parton said. “These are my people, these mountain-colored rainbows. These are my people, and this is my home.”
Federal, state and local aid continues to pour into the region as communities slowly work to get back on their feet.
