PERRY, Fla. (AP) 鈥 Authorities struggled to get water and other supplies to isolated, flood-stricken areas across the U.S. Southeast in the wake of Hurricane Helene as the death toll from the storm rose.
A North Carolina county that includes the 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.
Supplies were being airlifted to the region around the isolated city. Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder pledged that she would have food and water into Ashville 鈥 which is known for its arts, culture and natural attractions 鈥 by Monday.
鈥淲e hear you. We need food and we need water,鈥 Pinder said on a Sunday call with reporters. 鈥淢y staff has been making every request possible to the state for support and we鈥檝e been working with every single organization that has reached out. What I promise you is that we are very close.鈥
Officials warned that rebuilding from the widespread loss of homes and property would be lengthy and difficult. The storm Deaths also were reported in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia.
North Carolina governor predicts the death toll will rise as rescuers reach isolated areas
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.
He implored residents in western North Carolina to avoid travel, both for their own safety and to keep roads clear for emergency vehicles. More than 50 search teams spread throughout the region in search of 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 好色tv Guard Adjutant General Todd Hunt said.
President Joe Biden described the impact of the storm as 鈥渟tunning鈥 and said area this week as long as it does not disrupt rescues or recovery work.
Hurricane Helene roared ashore late Thursday in Florida鈥檚 Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph (225 kph) winds. A weakened Helene quickly moved through Georgia, then soaked the Carolinas and Tennessee with torrential rains that flooded creeks and rivers and strained dams.
There have been hundreds of water rescues, including in rural Unicoi County in East Tennessee, where were plucked by helicopter from a hospital rooftop Friday.
More than 2 million homeowners and other utility customers were still without power Sunday night. South Carolina had the most outages and Gov. Henry McMaster asked for patience as crews dealt with widespread snapped power poles.
鈥淲e want people to remain calm. Help is on the way, it is just going to take time,鈥 McMaster told reporters outside the airport in Aiken County.
Begging for help in North Carolina as that help is slow to arrive
The storm unleashed the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina. One community, Spruce Pine, was doused with over 2 feet (61 centimeters) of rain from Tuesday through Saturday.
Jessica Drye Turner in Texas had begged for someone to rescue her family members stranded on their rooftop in Asheville amid rising floodwaters. 鈥淭hey are watching 18-wheelers and cars floating by,鈥 Turner wrote in an urgent Facebook post on Friday.
But in a follow-up message Saturday, Turner said help had not arrived in time to save her parents, both in their 70s, and her 6-year-old nephew. The roof collapsed and the three drowned.
鈥淚 cannot convey in words the sorrow, heartbreak and devastation my sisters and I are going through,鈥 she wrote.
The state was sending water supplies and other items toward Buncombe County and Asheville, but mudslides blocking Interstate 40 and other highways prevented supplies from making it. The county鈥檚 own water supplies were on the other side of the Swannanoa River, away from where most of the 270,000 people in Buncombe County live, officials said.
Law enforcement was making plans to send officers to places that still had water, food or gas because of reports of arguments and threats of violence, the county sheriff said.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell toured south Georgia on Sunday and planned to be in North Carolina Monday.
鈥淚t鈥檚 still very much an active search and rescue mission鈥 in western North Carolina, Criswell said. 鈥淎nd we know that there鈥檚 many communities that are cut off just because of the geography鈥 of the mountains, where damage to roads and bridges have cut off certain areas.
Biden on Saturday pledged federal government help for Helene's 鈥渙verwhelming鈥 devastation. He also approved a disaster declaration for North Carolina, making federal funding available for affected individuals.
Storm-battered Florida digs out, residents gather for church
In Florida's Big Bend, some lost nearly everything they own. With sanctuaries still darkened as of Sunday morning, some churches canceled regular services while others like Faith Baptist Church in Perry opted to worship outside.
Standing water and tree debris still covers the grounds of Faith Baptist Church. The church called on parishioners to come 鈥減ray for our community鈥 in a message posted to the congregation鈥檚 Facebook page.
鈥淲e have power. We don鈥檛 have electricity,鈥 Immaculate Conception Catholic Church parishioner Marie Ruttinger said. 鈥淥ur God has power. That鈥檚 for sure.鈥
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said Saturday that it looked 鈥渓ike a bomb went off鈥 after viewing splintered homes and debris-covered highways from the air.
In eastern Georgia near the border with South Carolina, officials notified Augusta residents Sunday morning that water service would be shut off for 24 to 48 hours in the city and surrounding Richmond County.
A news release said trash and debris from the storm 鈥渂locked our ability to pump water.鈥 Officials were distributing bottled water.
With at least 25 killed in South Carolina, Helene was the deadliest tropical cyclone for the state since Hurricane Hugo made landfall north of Charleston in 1989, killing 35 people.
Moody鈥檚 Analytics said it expects $15 billion to $26 billion in property damage.
Climate change has exacerbated conditions that , rapidly intensifying in warming waters and turning into powerful cyclones sometimes within hours.
New tropical depression in Atlantic could become strong hurricane, forecasters say
A new tropical depression in the eastern Atlantic Ocean could become a 鈥渇ormidable hurricane鈥 later this week, the 好色tv Hurricane Center said Sunday. The depression had sustained 35 mph (55kph) winds and was located about 585 miles (945 kilometers) west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands, the center said. It could become a hurricane by Wednesday.
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Whittle reported from Portland, Maine, and Collins reported from Columbia, South Carolina. Haya Panjwani in Washington, Kate Brumback in Atlanta and Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana, contributed.
