Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Local News
30 dead from Helene in Buncombe County as western NC residents wrestle with life-threatening conditions
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Dramatic imagery continues to pour in from western North Carolina, a region crippled by historic flooding. Residents are left to deal with life-threatening conditions from the impacts of Helene. There have been dozens of deaths related to Helene in North Carolina and that number is likely to climb.
In a heartbreaking update on Sunday afternoon, Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller said there were 30 confirmed deaths throughout the county at this point. The county has received more than 1,000 missing persons reports through an online form, County Manager Avril Pinder said.
‘This is why people come here’
As of Sunday evening, water, roads, power, and cell phone service remain problematic in Asheville, despite some limited improvements.
With cell phone service hard to come by, many residents are seeking out places like the TownPlace Hotel off Interstate 240 just to get a reliable connection.
“Everything’s gone,” said Samuel Giles.
For residents in the area — particularly those at the Hillcrest Housing Project — prolonged days without basic services are becoming increasingly critical.
“There’s little babies that have nothing to drink and we’re going on three, four days now with no water,” Mariah Flaherty said.
Several residents are getting buckets of water from the river to bring back to their homes for flushing toilets.
Business owners, like Asheville Guitar Bar’s Mark Goldthwaite, are also faced with losing everything.
“It’s not only months of recovery. It’s years,” Goldthwaite said.
Along with having no power, many residents are also unable to get gas.
“I can’t get home. I haven’t seen my kids. I’m tired. I’m hungry. Still have no power,” Brittany Neal said. “I have no gas to get to my kids. I don’t know where to get gas.”
Working to restore power
Leaders said they’re emphasizing restoring power first to public health and public safety facilities. There are roughly 15,000 technicians and support personnel from 19 states and Canada in the Carolinas working to restore power.
A temporary cellular satellite trailer is being installed at the Family Justice Center (35 Woodfin Place) in Asheville to provide limited cell reception within several blocks.
On Sunday, hundreds of thousands of people are still without power and cell service. Residents are unable to contact loved ones or call for help, state leaders said Sunday. Parts of western North Carolina are underwater, leaving roads impassable and residents trapped in the mountains.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provided an update Sunday morning, warning that North Carolina has three active flash flood emergencies related to potential dam failures at Lake James, Catawba River and Mountain Island Lake.
On Saturday, Cooper requested a Major Disaster Declaration from the federal government for North Carolina for 38 counties and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians for federal Public Assistance and Individual Assistance after Tropical Storm Helene dumped record rainfall on Asheville.
President Joe Biden on Sunday approved Cooper’s request for a Federal Major Disaster Declaration, providing immediate federal help for 25 North Carolina counties and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
The declaration means that FEMA will be able to speed up additional help to the state and provide individual assistance to people living in those counties – as well as public assistance to reimburse local governments, state agencies and nonprofits or other eligible organizations for funds spent repairing facilities and infrastructure.
Some of the numbers around the devastation include:
- The U.S. death toll now stands at 64 people killed from Helene. Dozens of North Carolinians have died.
- As of Sunday afternoon, power remains out for nearly 500,000 North Carolinians.
- Locations across Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina saw anywhere from 8 inches to a staggering 30 inches of rain from Tuesday to Saturday. Busick in Yancey County saw 30.78 inches, according to the National Weather Service
- Mount Mitchell saw maximum wind gusts of 106 mph
- About 390 state-maintained roads remained closed. N.C. Highway 251 is not fully accessible, authorities said Sunday.
- More than 200 people have been rescued from flood waters.
- More than 150 water rescue missions have been made.
- Eleven mudslides were reported, including on or near I-40 and I-26 around Asheville.
- In Buncombe County, more than 5,500 calls were made to the area’s 911 operations center since Thursday, according to an update on the county’s Facebook page.
- Asheville saw a record 12.17 inches of rain recorded over a three-day period.
- Twenty-four emergency shelters have opened, providing capacity for 942 residents.
- Severe damage to the county’s water system, which prompted a boil water advisory as crews work to repair the damage.
Death toll: 11 dead in NC from Helene
Cooper confirmed Sunday that 11 people have died throughout North Carolina.
“Unfortunately, 11 people in our state have died as a result of this storm, and tragically we know there will be more,” Cooper said Sunday.
Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller said Sunday that 10 people have died in the county.
“This morning, I can confirm that we have lost 10 of our friends, family and neighbors in this disaster,” Miller said. “Our hearts are broken with this news.”
Cooper said it’s a “long and complicated” process for authorities to notify family members about people who have died before the information can be made public.
“I express my deepest sympathy to people who have lost family members and friends to this storm,” Cooper said. “We’ll work on getting that data; we’ll report to the public as quickly as we can.”
With at least 25 killed in South Carolina, Helene is the deadliest tropical cyclone for the state since Hurricane Hugo killed 35 people when it came ashore just north of Charleston in 1989.
At least 64 people have died nationwide due to Helene, the Associated Press reported. Deaths also have been reported in Florida, Georgia and Virginia.
Another major problem in western NC: No water
Water services are down, and authorities said there is no commercial or retail water available. This is just one of the latest threats western N.C. residents are facing.
Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder said the county’s existing water supply is located on the other side of the river in Swannanoa – making that supply is inaccessible.
Cooper said there is “significant damage” to water systems throughout western North Carolina.
Authorities said, as of Sunday, 52 water systems are without power, and an additional 93 systems are under a boil water advisory.
Authorities said the Weaverville water plant is currently flooded by 8 feet of water; electricians are en route to the plant.
“There is a massive effort going on now to move water and other supplies into these effected areas,” Cooper said.
Pinder also said there’s only one tiny lane of Interstate 40 that emergency responders have access to – meaning this one lane is the only way to transport food and water and other emergency supplies up into the mountain communities.
Two private helicopters are dropping off food and water in Swannanoa, the chief said Sunday. But other cities and towns remain out of luck and out of water.
It’s unclear how long it will take to repair these water systems, but authorities said it could take quite some time.
Search and rescue efforts shift to air as roads remain impassable
As of Sunday, hundreds of rescues have been made in the state.
In Weaverville, the mayor said 15 water rescues were made on Saturday alone, and several neighborhoods were evacuated.
“We’re going to continue this effort to make sure that we rescue people,” Cooper said Sunday. “The swift-water rescues are going on now as we speak.”
With many roads impassable, search and rescue efforts have shifted to the air.
Several air rescues have been made in western North Carolina, authorities said during a news conference Sunday.
Several of these rescues were made in the Chimney Rock area, he said. The largest rescue was 41 people north of Asheville in Buncombe County.
Swannanoa Fire Chief Anthony Penland said Sunday that the area is completely devastated.
“The Old Highway 70 is gone,” Penland said. “We’ve [got] complete neighborhoods that are no longer there.”
He said search and rescue crews are working to find survivors in those neighborhoods and along Old 70.
“We are still trying to save every single person we can,” Pinder said.
Another concern is getting food, water and other supplies into these affected areas.
“Right now, we’re sending supplies in the air,” Cooper said. “We’re also finding routes to get supplies in. The Department of Transportation is helping emergency vehicles find routes to get around the devastation of the roads.”
As crews continue working on getting supplies to the region, Johnson was left wondering how they’re going to make it happen.
“You can’t go two miles down the road, because you can’t get past it. [The] police chief can’t call out of the state to let them know that they needed help,” she said. You can’t even get donations. I mean, we were talking to our neighbors [and] we don’t even know how to get food into our county. I mean, you can’t even get in.”
All roads in western North Carolina are still considered closed.
“I want to remind all North Carolinians that conditions on the ground remain extremely dangerous.” said Emergency Management Director Will Ray. “Roadways are damaged. There are downed power lines and unstable ground.”
No power or cell service: Western NC residents unable to contact loved ones
The scope of the damage became clearer after daybreak after many spent the night in darkness. Still, there’s much more we don’t know as much of the state west of Interstate 77 is cut off due to road closures and communication outages.
As of 2 p.m. Sunday, nearly 390,000 customers remain without power in North Carolina, according to the Duke Energy outage map. In Buncombe County, more than 95,000 customers remain without power. That number decreased to about 8,000 earlier Sunday, but totals shot back up shortly after.
The number of outages in North Carolina has fluctuated since Saturday afternoon, which saw more than 700,000 customers without power.
In a rare occurrence, the North Carolina Department of Transportation declared all roads closed in the western part of the state, leaving many with nowhere to turn after one of the most significant weather events the area has seen. As of Sunday, there is no timetable for power restoration or cell phone service to return.
“Our challenges with communication is adding to our ability to contact loved ones,” Miller said. “This is a historic event. I don’t know that we can ever properly prepare for everything. This was new to all of us. This is stretching us in places that we didn’t know.
“To say this caught us off guard would be an understatement.”
Many are stranded with no way to call for help with no electricity or running water to compound the problem. The rain stopped Friday afternoon, but the catastrophic impacts will be felt for some time. The state and phone service providers have activated disaster roaming, which allows any phone on any cellular network to access any available network.
Some viewers contacted WRAL News and told them they weren’t able to reach loved ones in the mountains. Johnson said some areas had pockets of cell service, but those quickly became bogged down by people trying to contact loved ones.
“There’s one corner of the parking lot that people have found there’s a signal,” she said. “20 to 30 people just trying to talk. Right now, everyone just wants cell phone service.”
Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers said Saturday was the first time he’s been able to send a message from his phone since Thursday. Smathers said the town suffered “apocalyptic” flooding.
“My heart is broken, not only for our town, but for the entire region,” Smathers said.
Cooper said while he also wants cell service restored to the region, it’s not as simple as cutting a switch back on.
“I’ve been pushing the cell phone companies to work, to bring in deployable assets because we know the landslides have cut fiber and cables and that a lot of the services are down, we know that they need to get communications up as quickly as possible,” he said. “They had devastating losses themselves, most of their areas were flooded as well, so we’re trying to get deployable assets in to get cell phone service back up and to get power hooked back up.”
Many residents trapped by flooding and landslides
Landslides and flooding forced the closure of many roads. Communication methods were spotty with cell phone service for most major carriers being out for many. Small towns with limited roads around like Beech Mountain and Chimney Rock were inaccessible due to collapsed pavement or trees down across roadways.
Authorities said Sunday in an update that N.C. Highway 251 is not fully accessible.
According to DriveNC.gov, there are 53 active incidents on main roads and 235 active incidents on secondary roads as of Sunday.
All roads in Western North Carolina should be considered closed, and non-emergency travel is prohibited.
Interstate 40 is impassable in multiple locations. Interstate 26 was closed at the Tennessee state line Saturday. A previously closed section of I-26, south of Asheville, reopened Sunday – allowing for the first major route in and out of the city.
The National Weather Service declared a flash flood emergency for much of the area Friday morning and several of those are still in effect.
“It’s pretty rare. In 2023, less than 1% of all flash flood alerts in the country were flash flood emergencies,” WRAL meteorologist Chris Michaels said. “It’s because we’ve seen close to 1 foot of rain in Asheville.”
Part of Interstate 40 was destroyed in Cocke County, Tennessee. Interstate 26 in North Carolina was impassable in multiple locations. The road conditions meant line technicians and first responders faced unprecedented challenges in helping people.
The western part of the state got so much rain that the official rain gauge in Asheville stopped collecting at one point on Friday morning. Even with that, the 12.17 inches of rain recorded over a three-day period was the largest three-day total on record in the city with data having been stored since 1879.
The city of Asheville enforced a curfew on Friday night. All rivers in the area were still at major flood stage and flooding figures to be a problem for days. Henderson County also enforced a curfew at night until conditions improve. The flooding was so powerful and swift that on Friday, shipping containers, vehicles and entire homes got swept away in floodwaters.
“The rivers are hazardous spillways because of the amount of hazardous materials that’s in our waterways,” Jones said. “Please stay away from this water. It is dirty water. It is very dangerous. It is very swift.”
Asheville’s historic Biltmore Village area was hit particularly hard and submerged in water from the nearby Swannanoa River.
Grandfather Mountain is also closed indefinitely due to damage from Helene. According to officials, Grandfather Mountain suffered landslides, flooding and intense wind damage from Helene.
They also said they are unable to provide refunds, move reservations or reach out to people who made reservations during the days they will be closed due to lack of electricity and internet.
Damage in western NC rivals Hurricane Katrina, officials say
During a news conference Saturday afternoon, Buncombe County authorities described the damage as “Buncombe County’s own Hurricane Katrina,” and described the damage as “biblical devastation.”
The once-in-a-lifetime storm and precipitation that preceded it brought nearly a foot of rain to some spots. Saturday, the strain on the area’s infrastructure was immense as dangerous conditions persisted. Jamie Johnson, who lives in Banner Elk, said she’s never seen damage this severe in the region.
“It’s indescribable what we’re seeing,” she said. “Every road is washed out at some point. If they’re not washed out, there are roads in the trees and there are mudslides.”
Linda Pryor, a western North Carolina farmer, said she has not seen flooding like this in her lifetime.
“I remember my parents talking about a flood in 1916 and it was a very similar scenario where it was two systems back-to-back,” she said. “This is the first time I’ve experienced that firsthand.”
Western NC colleges and universities
Boone’s King Street was flooded on Friday, putting a dent in Parents’ Weekend at Appalachian State University. Appalachian State has opened its dining hall to emergency relief.
UNC-Asheville canceled classes until Oct. 7 due to damage on campus from the storm, adding they will provide “security, food, water and comfort” to the students still on campus.
Appalachian State and Western Carolina universities also canceled classes through Friday, Oct. 4, due to damage around their campuses.
Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk is asking all members of the campus community to shelter in place until further notice. UNC Asheville had critical infrastructure damages from the flooding.
Resources for help/information
RED CROSS: The North Carolina National Guard advises anyone who is need of support to reach out to American Red Cross of North Carolina.
Call 1-800-RED CROSS and select “disaster” from the prompts.
There is also a number for crisis cleanup. If someone just needs debris removed, call 844-965-1386.
FACEBOOK: If you have cell service or internet service, you can mark yourself safe on Facebook using the social media platform’s Crisis Response service.
Facebook’s Crisis Response lets people affected by crises tell friends they’re safe, find or offer help and get the latest news and information.
Go to facebook.com/crisisresponse.
APPALACHIAN STATE OPENS DINING HALL: The central dining hall at Appalachian State University is open to the community. Food and internet service are available. You do not have to be affiliated with ASU to come.
RUTHERFORD COUNTY MISSING PEOPLE: If you know of a missing person in Rutherford County, you can email their name and location to EOC@rutherfordcountync.gov.
POWER OUTAGES: Check poweroutage.us for outage information. As of 10 a.m. Saturday, there were more than 700,000 outages in North Carolina.
SHELTERS: The American Red Cross opened dozens of shelters in the region. Check here for shelter locations.
TRAFFIC: Check drivenc.gov for updates on road closures. In general, driving in western North Carolina is not advised as the state is considering all roads in the area to be closed.
WATER LEVELS: Check water levels in your area through FIMAN (Flood Inundation Mapping & Alert Network)
211: Call 211 for free and confidential information on health and human services. Visit readync.gov for emergency resources and information.
MEAL AVAILABILITY: The Salvation Army is responding to requests for meal service. More information is on helpsalvationarmy.org.
If you would like to know how else you can help residents in western North Carolina, click here.
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