By Erik Verduzco and Jeffrey Collins
Associated Press
SWANNANOA, N.C. 鈥� Cadaver dogs and search crews trudged through knee-deep muck and debris on Tuesday looking in the mountains of western North Carolina for victims of , days after the storm carved a deadly and destructive path through the Southeast.
With Helene鈥檚 death toll nearing 150, searchers fanned out across the region, using helicopters to get past washed-out bridges and hiking through wilderness to reach isolated homes.
Many who lived through what was one of the deadliest storms in U.S. history were left without electricity or any way to reach out for help. Some cooked food on charcoal grills or hiked to high ground in the hopes of finding a signal to call loved ones.
The devastation was especially bad in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where at least 50 people died in and around Asheville, known for its art galleries, breweries and outdoor activities.
Just outside the city, in the small community of Swannanoa, receding floodwaters revealed cars stacked on top of others and trailer homes that had floated away during the storm. Roads were caked with mud and debris and pockmarked by sinkholes.
Exhausted emergency crews worked around the clock to clear roads, restore power and phone service, and reach those still stranded by the storm, which killed at least 149 people in six states. Nearly half of the deaths were in North Carolina, while dozens of others were in South Carolina and Georgia.
鈥淐ommunities were wiped off the map,鈥� North Carolina鈥檚 governor, Roy Cooper, said Tuesday.
President Joe Biden was set to survey the devastation in the region Wednesday.
More than 150,000 households have already registered for assistance with the Federal Emergency Management Agency 鈥� a number that is expected to rapidly rise in the coming days, said Frank Matranga, an agency representative.
Nearly 2 million ready-to-eat meals and more than a million liters of water have been sent to the hardest-hit areas, he said.
The North Carolina death toll included one horrific story after another of people trapped by floodwaters or killed by falling trees. Among the dead were a couple and a 6-year-old boy who were waiting on a rooftop to when part of their home collapsed.
Search crews around Asheville first checked on the most vulnerable.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been going door to door, making sure that we can put eyes on people and see if they鈥檙e safe,鈥� said Avril Pinder, the county manager for Buncombe County, which includes Asheville. 鈥淲e know that there are places that are still hard to access.鈥�
How some of the hardest-hit areas are copingThe storm unleashed the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina. in some areas have topped more than 2 feet (61 centimeters) since Wednesday, and several main routes into Asheville were damaged or blocked by mudslides.
A section of one of the region鈥檚 main arteries, Interstate 40, reopened Tuesday after a mudslide was cleared, but a collapsed stretch near North Carolina鈥檚 border with Tennessee remained closed.
Joey Hopkins, North Carolina鈥檚 secretary of transportation, asked people to stay off the roads so that emergency and recovery crews can get into the area.
At a grocery store in Asheville, Elizabeth Teall-Fleming stood in line hoping to find nonperishable food, since her home had no power. She planned to heat canned food over a camp stove for her family.
鈥淚鈥檓 just glad that they鈥檙e open and that they鈥檙e able to let us in,鈥� she said.
She was surprised by the storm鈥檚 ferocity: 鈥淛ust seeing the little bit of news that we鈥檝e been able to see has been shocking and really sad.鈥�
Helene as a Category 4 hurricane and quickly moved north. The storm upended life throughout the Southeast, where deaths were also reported in Florida, Tennessee and Virginia. Officials warned that rebuilding would be long and difficult.
Mobile service knocked outThe widespread damage and outages affecting key communications infrastructure left many people without stable access to the internet and cellular service, the Federal Communications Commission said.
Teams from Verizon were working to repair downed cell towers, damaged fiber cables and provide alternative forms of connectivity across the region, the company said in a statement.
AT&T, meanwhile, said it launched 鈥渙ne of the largest mobilizations of our disaster recovery assets for emergency connectivity support.鈥�
The efforts to restore service was made more challenging by the region鈥檚 terrain and spread-out population, said David Zumwalt, president and CEO of the Association for Broadband Without Boundaries.
Why western North Carolina was hit so hardWestern North Carolina suffered relatively more devastation because that鈥檚 where the remnants of Helene encountered the higher elevations and cooler air of the Appalachian Mountains, causing even more rain to fall.
Asheville and many surrounding mountain towns were built in valleys, leaving them especially vulnerable to devastating rain and flooding. Plus, the ground already was saturated before Helene arrived, said Christiaan Patterson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
Climate change has exacerbated conditions that , rapidly intensifying in warming waters and turning into powerful cyclones, sometimes within hours.
Destruction from Florida to VirginiaAcross Georgia, Helene鈥檚 inland path knocked out power and shattered lives from Valdosta to Augusta, where a line of cars waiting to get water Tuesday wrapped around a shopping center and stretched at least a half-mile (0.8 kilometers) down the road.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been rough,鈥� said Kristie Nelson, who had no idea when her electricity would be restored. 鈥淚鈥檓 just dying for a hot shower.鈥�
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee flew to the eastern part of that state to survey damage on Tuesday. During a stop while looking at what remained of a demolished high school, residents said the governor and his entourage were the first help they had seen since the storm hit.
鈥淲here has everyone been? We have been here alone,鈥� one frustrated local said.
With at least 31 killed in South Carolina, Helene was the deadliest tropical cyclone to hit the state since made landfall north of Charleston in 1989, killing 35 people.
Tropical Storm Kirk could become a major hurricaneTropical Storm Kirk is churning in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and is expected to become a hurricane late Tuesday. It could become a major hurricane Thursday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The storm was about 1,010 miles (1,630 kilometers) west of the Cabo Verde Islands with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph (110 kph). There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect, and the storm system was not a threat to land.