Man captures video as building caught in floodwaters is torn in half by telephone pole

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (CNN) – Incredible video shows the extent of damage caused by Helene in North Carolina as part of a building caught in floodwaters is torn apart by a telephone pole.

Chris Faber captured video of a floating building Friday from his third-floor apartment in Asheville. He said he saw trees and shipping containers and entire buildings swept away by the swollen Swannanoa River.

The video shows what appears to be the exterior wall of a building in the water. The wall hits a telephone pole outside, and floodwaters continue to push it through the pole, tearing the wall in two.

This debris was confirmed to belong to at least one local tea company called Asheville Tea Co., which lost everything to Helene.

Owner Jessie Dean says she thought moving everything at least three feet off the ground would be enough to avoid floodwaters. She didn’t think her entire building would be destroyed.

“It’s unfathomable,” Dean told CNN. “We put so much love and heart and soul into this space.”

She says all company employees and their families are safe.

Asheville and surrounding Buncombe County were one of the places hardest hit by Helene. At least 61 people have been confirmed dead in the county, nearly half of the total death toll of at least 189 people, the Associated Press reports.