North Carolina
Communities buried in mud in hard-hit North Carolina
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‘Complete rebuild’: Family shares story of losing North Carolina home due to Helene
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Communities buried in mud in hard-hit North Carolina
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‘Complete rebuild’: Family shares story of losing North Carolina home due to Helene
10:04
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Now Playing
Communities buried in mud in hard-hit North Carolina
02:51
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UP NEXT
Harris announces recovery efforts for Hurricane Helene in Georgia remarks
02:23
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Swannanoa Fire Chief Pendland details Helene response efforts
00:52
-
Hurricane Helene ‘recovery is going to take years, if not a decade’: fmr. FEMA administrator
16:02
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Biden surveys Hurricane Helene aftermath in North Carolina
04:04
North Carolina
North Carolina live updates: Helene death toll climbs to at least 69, officials say
(This article will be updated. Read our earlier coverage here.)
Relief efforts continue in Asheville and the Western North Carolina area where a major disaster due to Tropical Storm Helene has left communities devastated, roads impassable and thousands without power. There were only estimates Tuesday evening about the extent of the destruction, with the full scope of Helene devastation not expected to be known for some time.
Check back for live updates as they roll in throughout the day Wednesday.
The death toll from Tropical Storm Helene has risen to at least 69 people in Western North Carolina, officials report.
So far, 57 deaths have been confirmed in Buncombe County, six in Henderson County, one in Macon County and five in Avery County.
A ski resort area in western North Carolina near the Tennessee border, Avery County reported Tuesday night that many residents are still unaccounted for. The information came after a viral social media post claimed that 200 people had died in the county seat of Newland, but Avery County Manager Philip Barrier on Tuesday said the number was false.
— Staff Reports
Residents in all Givens locations, including Givens Estates in Asheville, Givens Gerber Park in South Asheville, Givens Highland Farms in Black Mountain and Givens Great Laurels in Waynesville, are safe and accounted for, CEO Kevin Schwab reported Oct. 1.
Team members and health services staff are on duty and conducting routine wellness checks, according to a news release provided by Givens. The release also notes that auxiliary generators are providing power, meal service is available, adequate drinking and nonpotable water is available and regional communication continues to be extremely limited.Immediate needs are for nursing volunteers and donations of drinking water, sanitary wipes.
Anyone who can help or who needs to get in contact can call 828-274-4800.
— Staff Reports
A bevy of nurses, relief workers and supplies from across the U.S. are pouring into Western North Carolina this week to aid hospitals besieged by patients amid the deadly flooding from Tropical Storm Helene.
More than 100 nurses as well as physicians arrived Monday at Mission Hospital in Asheville from sister hospitals across the nation within the HCA Healthcare system, which owns Mission and is headquartered in Nashville, HCA spokesperson Harlow Sumerford said.
They’ve set up mobile units with kitchens, bathrooms and handwashing stations and are setting up mini marts inside the hospital and in other HCA hospitals across the region to provide doctors, nurses and other hospital staff with free groceries, including food, water and toiletries.
HCA also is providing hundreds of thousands of bottles of water, tens of thousands of gallons of fuel and satellite data networks to Mission Hospital, which dodged the flooding that decimated much of surrounding Buncombe County but is now scrambling to keep up with an onslaught of patients.
— Beth Warren, USA Today Network
Over 4,500 federal rescue and aid workers are headed to the areas smashed by Hurricane Helene. But U.S. prosecutors say another deluge of people are on the way: Charlatans, opportunists and disreputable contractors looking to exploit the victims of the storm.
Federal, state and local officials have put out warnings this week for hurricane victims – especially those who are desperate – to beware of people showing up at their door or calling them, claiming they want to help. Defrauding of hurricane victims and the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency itself is a multi-million dollar industry for criminals, according to experts, federal authorities and government warnings.
“Con artists and criminals may try to obtain money or steal personal information through fraud or identity theft after Hurricane Helene,” FEMA officials warned Tuesday. “In some cases, thieves try to apply for FEMA assistance using names, addresses and Social Security numbers they have stolen from people affected by the disaster.”
For more information, including tips on how to avoid scams, read the full story here.
— Michael Loria, USA TODAY
In the mountains of western North Carolina − one of the areas hit hardest by Hurricane Helene − moms are doing what they do best: taking care of others. Local Facebook groups, previously filled with weekend activity recommendations and hand-me-down clothes offerings, are now swamped with moms ready to go to great lengths to help one another − even while in dire need themselves.
They’re sharing formula and baby wipes. They’re giving away their kids books and toys. They’re offering up cribs, mattresses, meals. One mom even offered her frozen breast milk.
Read the full story here.
— Charles Trepany, USA TODAY
Tyson Foods will bring a Meals that Matter Disaster Relief team to Weaverville in northern Buncombe County later this week to distribute hot meals, water and ice to community members impacted by Tropical Storm Helene.
Company volunteers will be set up at the Walmart Supercenter, 25 Northridge Commons Parkway, from noon-5 p.m. on Friday and from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. daily beginning Saturday.
Volunteers, in partnership with local food banks, have been on the ground in multiple states after Hurricane Helene made landfall last week, according to a company release. Over the weekend, a team served 10,240 meals to residents in Perry, Florida. On Oct. 1, a team in Augusta, Georgia served 6,840 meals with plans to distribute more Wednesday.
— Staff Reports.
North Carolina
Couple narrowly avoids mudslide triggered by Hurricane Helene on North Carolina highway: wild video
A couple driving through the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina narrowly avoided being swept away by a mudslide triggered by the remnants of Hurricane Helene.
Alan and Kelly Keffer captured the moment a mudslide clipped the back of their vehicle on their dashboard camera.
“Whoa!” Alan said off-camera.
The couple managed to get past the mudslide uninjured.
Behind them, a few semi-trucks and other smaller vehicles stopped, while others pulled over and parked on the side of Interstate 40.
Debris including rocks collapsed onto the interstate, rising higher than the semi-trucks just behind the Keffer’s car and over the cement barrier on the side of the road.
Mud splattered across their windshield, obscuring the couple’s view of anything behind their vehicle.
I-40 was one of several interstates closed in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee following numerous disasters triggered by the devastating storm.
Buncombe County saw the bulk of the destruction in North Carolina. A majority of the damage — and death toll — comes from Asheville, NC, where the Lake Lure Dam was compromised during the storm.
North Carolina
Asheville mother recounts last moments with son before he was swept away by Helene floods: ‘He became my hero’
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Not all heroes wear capes – and sometimes, they’re only 7 years old.
Just ask Meghan Drye, the mother of Micah, a little boy who wanted to be a superhero for Halloween, but was tragically swept away by floods that struck Asheville, North Carolina, last week.
The floodwater rose high enough that Drye and her son, along with her parents, had to climb to the roof of their home for safety. However, the flood became so powerful that it broke the home apart.
At that moment, Drye said her son called for Jesus to save him.
“He reached for something past flesh, past human, past anything that even grown adults, I think, would reach for,” she said. “My son called out to the one God Almighty. And I think at that moment he was rescued, and he became my hero, and I think all of them carried me through that moment.”
All four were sent downstream, with Micah being torn away from his mother.
HELENE DEATH TOLL CLIMBS TO 138 AS SEARCH FOR MISSING IN NORTH CAROLINA CONTINUES
Drye spent three hours in the water, becoming entangled by roots and trees. She said she held on to the vegetation, but something greater told her to let go.
“In the midst of the chaos, all I heard was God telling me to be still and to stop fighting the water,” Drye recalled. “That was Him, that was prayers. That was prayers that told me to be still and to let the water carry me to where I needed to be rescued.”
She then found herself between carriers for two hours, which allowed her to be spotted by a man and then provided for by a rescue team.
Micah’s body was recovered about a quarter-mile away from where Drye was rescued.
“My grief today is unfathomable. I’m sorrowful. I feel broken,” Drye said. “But what is the main thing that I take away from grief is the uplifting of all the prayers that I have received.”
Remnants from Hurricane Helene drenched the state of North Carolina last week, dropping nearly 30 inches in some spots – or about 4-months-worth of rain – in only three days.
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To support Drye and her family in remembrance of Micah, you can visit their GoFundMe page here.
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