Helene death toll exceeds 100 as officials rush supplies to storm-ravaged areas

Emergency responders in western North Carolina were racing on Monday (Sep 30) to try to reach people who remain unaccounted for three days after Hurricane Helene tore through the southeastern United States, killing more than 100 people across six states, wiping out communications and leaving millions without power.

In mountainous, hard-hit Buncombe County, which includes the city of Asheville, 35 people have died, the county sheriff said at a news briefing on Monday. The county was set to begin distributing food and water later in the day to residents, after some supplies were airlifted to the region that has been largely isolated by flooded roads and power outages.

“We don’t have water, and we do not have power across most of the county … the roads are still incredibly dangerous,” County Manager Avril Pinder said.

In neighbouring Yancey County, the storm snapped century-old trees around the home of Taylor Shelton, 44. It took her husband two days with a chainsaw to cut a passage through the felled trees in their driveway and the nearby road so they could drive themselves and their three children out of the darkened house.

With no cellular phone service, they relied on a neighbour who works as an EMT and had a walkie-talkie to help them determine which roads out of the mountains were passable.

“The devastation is unbelievable,” she said in a phone interview.

She has still not been able to reach her husband’s parents, who live in the nearby town of Burnsville, which was also badly hit.