Supplies are urgently shipped to North Carolina communities left isolated after Helen

PERRY, Fla. (AP) — North Carolina officials pledged to deliver more water and other supplies to flood-hit areas by Monday after Hurricane Helene left a trail of destruction in the southeastern United States and the death toll from the storm rose to nearly 100.

At least 91 people have been killed in several states. A North Carolina county that includes the mountain town of Asheville reported 30 people killed.

Gov. Roy Cooper predicted the toll would rise as rescuers and other first responders reached areas cut off by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure and widespread flooding.

Supplies were flown to the area around the isolated town of Asheville. Buncombe County Executive Avril Pinder promised she would provide food and water to the town by Monday.

“We hear you. We need food and water,” Pinder said in a call with reporters on Sunday. “My team has made every possible request for support from the state and we have worked with every organization that has contacted us. What I promise you is that we are very close.

Officials warned that rebuilding after the widespread loss of homes and properties would be long and difficult. The storm disrupted life across the Southeast. Deaths were also reported in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia.

Cooper implored residents of western North Carolina to avoid traveling, both for their own safety and to keep the roads clear for emergency vehicles. More than 50 search teams spread across the region searching for stranded people.

A rescue effort involved rescuing 41 people north of Asheville. Another mission was to save a single baby. Teams found people through 911 calls and social media posts, North Carolina National Guard Adjutant General Todd Hunt said.

President Joe Biden called the storm’s impact “staggering” and said he would visit the region this week provided it does not disrupt relief or recovery work.

In a brief exchange with reporters, he called the storm’s impact “staggering” and said the administration was giving states “everything we have” to help with their response to the storm.

Hurricane Helene slammed into Florida’s Big Bend region Thursday evening as a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 140 mph (225 km/h). Helen, weakened, moved quickly across Georgia, then inundated the Carolinas and Tennessee with torrential rains that flooded streams and rivers and strained dams.

There have been hundreds of water rescues, including in rural Unicoi County in eastern Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were evacuated by helicopter from the roof of a hospital Friday.

More than 2 million homeowners and other utility customers were still without power Sunday evening. South Carolina saw the highest number of outages and Gov. Henry McMaster asked for patience as crews dealt with numerous broken power poles.

“We want people to stay calm. Help is on the way, it’s just going to take time,” McMaster told reporters outside the Aiken County Airport.

Seek help in North Carolina because help is slow to arrive

The storm caused the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina. One community, Spruce Pine, was inundated with more than 24 inches of rain between Tuesday and Saturday.

Jessica Drye Turner, in Texas, had begged for someone to save her family members stranded on their roof in Asheville amid rising floodwaters. “They watch the 18-wheelers and cars go by,” Turner wrote in an urgent Facebook post Friday.

But in a follow-up message Saturday, Turner said help didn’t arrive in time to save his parents, both in their 70s, as well as his 6-year-old nephew. The roof collapsed and the three drowned.

“I cannot express in words the heartache, heartbreak and devastation that my sisters and I are going through,” she wrote.

The state was sending water and other items to Buncombe County and Asheville, but mudslides blocking Interstate 40 and other highways prevented supplies. The county’s water supplies were across the Swannanoa River, far from where most of Buncombe County’s 270,000 residents live, officials said.

Law enforcement planned to send officers to locations where there was still water, food or gas because of reports of arguments and threats of violence, the sheriff’s office said. county.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell visited southern Georgia on Sunday and plans to visit North Carolina on Monday.

“This is still a very active search and rescue mission” in western North Carolina, Criswell said. “And we know that many communities are isolated simply because of the geography” of the mountains, where damage to roads and bridges has isolated some areas.

Biden on Saturday pledged federal help for Helene’s “overwhelming” devastation. He also approved a disaster declaration for North Carolina, making federal funding available to those affected.

Storm-hit Florida digs, residents gather for church

In Big Bend, Florida, some people lost almost everything they owned. With sanctuaries still dark 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 cover the grounds of Faith Baptist Church. The church called on parishioners to come “pray for our community” in a message posted on the congregation’s Facebook page.

“We have the power. We don’t have electricity,” said Marie Ruttinger, a parishioner at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. “Our God has power. That’s for sure.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said Saturday it looked like “a bomb went off” after watching from the air as homes were shattered and highways covered in debris.

In eastern Georgia, near the South Carolina border, authorities informed Augusta residents Sunday morning that water service would be cut off for 24 to 48 hours in the city and surrounding areas. Richmond County.

A press release said trash and debris from the storm “blocked our ability to pump water.” Officials handed out bottled water.

With at least 25 deaths 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’s Analytics said it expects property damage of between $15 billion and $26 billion.

Climate change has exacerbated the conditions that allow these storms to develop, rapidly intensifying in warming waters and sometimes turning into powerful cyclones within hours.

New tropical depression in the Atlantic could develop into a powerful hurricane, forecasters say

A new tropical depression in the eastern Atlantic Ocean could develop into a “formidable hurricane” later this week, the National Hurricane Center said Sunday. The depression had sustained winds of 55 km/h and was located about 1,015 kilometers west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands, the center said. It could become a hurricane by Wednesday.

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Whittle was reported in Portland, Maine, and Collins in Columbia, South Carolina. Haya Panjwani in Washington, Kate Brumback in Atlanta and Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana, contributed.