Shocking images show how a picturesque North Carolina village was nearly wiped out by Hurricane Helene — as the death toll from the storm rose to 107, with desperate rescue missions continuing across the Southwest on Monday.
Chimney Rock initially appeared to have escaped Helene’s wrath — until floodwater overwhelmed a dam on Saturday, overruning the area and destroying almost everything in sight, the News & Observer noted.
“The village? There’s just nothing left,” rescue crew leader Chris Murray told the outlet.
“I’ve never seen concentrated damage like we’ve seen here.”
Helene tore through six states, first making landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, and left millions without power and communications. But North Carolina was hit hardest, with at least 30 of the over 100 dead coming from the Tar Heel State, with hundreds still unaccounted for.
In Chimney Rock, photos show the once idyllic village covered in mud and debris, with about half of the businesses on the southern side of the town near Broad River gone from the massive flooding.
“The damage is unimaginable,” rescue crews from Pamlico County said over the weekend.
Terrifying video set to the sound of blaring sirens showed Hurricane Helene’s violent floodwaters ravaging the village on Saturday.
The clip begins with a powerful wave of mudwater surging across a yard in Chimney Rock, ripping pieces of a home off and sweeping debris in the tide.
“My car’s gone. Everything’s gone. It’s all gone,” the unidentified filmmaker can be heard saying, as a second person hurriedly reassures them, “It’s ok.”
The floodwaters were strong enough to cause SUVs and roadways to be washed away and obliterated.
Meanwhile, other parts of the Southwest were ravaged by the storm’s path, prompting mass rescue efforts.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell toured south Georgia on Sunday and planned to be in North Carolina on Monday.
“It’s still very much an active search and rescue mission” in western North Carolina, Criswell said. “And we know that there’s many communities that are cut off just because of the geography” of the mountains, where damage to roads and bridges have cut off certain areas.
A North Carolina county that includes the mountain city of Asheville reported 30 people killed due to the storm, and several other fatalities reported in North Carolina Sunday pushed the overall death toll to at least 91 people across several states.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper predicted the toll would rise as rescuers and other emergency workers reached areas isolated by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure, and widespread flooding.
Supplies were being airlifted to the region around the isolated city. Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder pledged that she would have food and water in Ashville by Monday.
“My staff has been making every request possible to the state for support and we’ve been working with every single organization that has reached out. What I promise you is that we are very close,” Buncombe Councy Manager Avril Pinder said on a Sunday call with reporters.
He asked residents in western North Carolina to avoid travel as more than 50 search teams spread throughout the region to search for stranded people.
One rescue effort involved saving 41 people north of Asheville. Another mission focused on saving a single infant. The teams found people through both 911 calls and social media messages, North Carolina National Guard Adjutant General Todd Hunt said.
Tampa Bay, Florida was also blasted with a massive storm surge that sent water up to people’s attics.
Atlanta got more than 11 inches of rain, more than any 48-hour period in recorded history. So many trees were toppled in South Carolina that more than 40 percent of the state lost electricity at one point.
Among the more than 20 dead in Georgia were a 27-year-old mother and her 1-month-old twins who Friday when trees fell on their house in Thomson, just west of Augusta.
“I currently have 2 people on oxygen needing generators & 1 person on dialysis needing one. Anyone with power willing to loan their generators? I’ll organize delivery & return,” South Carolina Representative Neal Collins wrote on X, imploring users to reach out to him so he could initiate rescue efforts.
President Biden pledged federal government help for Helene’s “overwhelming” devastation on Saturday. He also approved a disaster declaration for North Carolina, making federal funding available for affected individuals.
with Post wires
