South
Rescue, recovery efforts continue in North Carolina as Helene's death toll exceeds 240 in Southeast
North Carolina continues its recovery from the devastation left by Hurricane Helene. Over 130,000 residents remain without power, facing the daunting task of cleaning up debris and rebuilding their lives. FOX Weather Correspondent Brandy Campbell is in Swannanoa, North Carolina, providing updates on the ongoing recovery efforts.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Recovery and resilience continue in the Southeast following Hurricane Helene after the historic storm killed at least 248 people with hundreds more still unaccounted for from the deadliest mainland U.S. hurricane since Katrina.
Communities are still reeling along Florida’s Big Bend, which took the brunt of Helene’s eye wall and storm surge, and in southern Georgia, where Helene’s hurricane-force winds caused widespread property damage.
But it’s the widespread devastation of the mountainous communities of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee where the scope of the catastrophe continues to slowly come into focus.
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Debris and damage remain strewn across entire cities as multiple rivers fed by 15-30 inches of rain swelled to well beyond record flood heights, sending torrents of water feet deep raging through streets and neighborhoods. It left behind unfathomable scenes of destruction – a mix of buildings, cars, trees, power lines and whatever else Helene’s torrential rains could sweep away.
As some survivors in North Carolina return home for the first time since Helene’s flood, they are confronted with a heartbreaking reality. The scenes of destruction are almost beyond comprehension. FOX Weather Meteorologist Jane Minar is live from Cove Creek with the latest update.
Now, with rivers receded, faded water lines along the tops of homes and buildings mark the staggering heights floodwaters reached, and mountains of mud and debris leave a residual reminder of how neighborhoods became temporary river beds.
Amid the heartache of immense loss, communities across the hard-hit area face a dual challenge of cleaning up the mess and rebuilding neighborhoods, roads and critical power and water infrastructure. Rescue crews, engineers, linemen, doctors, nurses and relief workers are pouring in from across the country.
As more areas are searched for the first time, the death toll is expected to rise. The lack of phone service and electricity in the region hampers efforts to locate missing individuals.
Asheville, North Carolina Police Deputy Chief Sean Aardema said Friday his agency is still investigating 75 active missing persons cases. Their agency found and rescued three survivors who had been trapped in rubble all week and got them to medical treatment — two who were trapped in debris inside the Swannanoa River and another person who had been trapped in their home.
HOW YOU CAN HELP HURRICANE HELENE RELIEF EFFORTS
As of Thursday, Buncombe County in western North Carolina reported 200 still unaccounted for.
Many in the region are still required to boil water as water mains remain damaged and wells contaminated by dirty floodwaters. An initial study by CoreLogic estimates damage costs have already reached $30.5 billion to $47.5 billion.
Over half a million people across the Southeast still remain without power more than a week after Helene struck. Duke Energy says while 1.2 million power outages have been repaired so far in North Carolina, about 170,000 still remain in the western mountainous region.
The company says about 105,000 will be long-term outages due to destroyed infrastructure. A 200,000 pound mobile substation has been brought to Biltmore Village, as their main substation was covered by water and will need 3-4 months to repair.
Hospitals across the U.S. were bracing for potential shortages of IV fluids and dialysis solutions after major supplier Baxter International’s medical plant suffered significant damage in Marion, North Carolina.
‘My grief today is unfathomable’
As the death toll climbs, communities are reeling for who they’ve lost among the destruction.
Kim Ashby, a 58-year-old seventh-grade teacher, is among the hundreds still unaccounted for in western North Carolina after her home was swept away by raging floodwaters.
58-year-old Kim Ashby is among the hundreds unaccounted for after she was swept away during Hurricane Helene’s floods in North Carolina.
She was with her husband in Elk Park when the nearby river swelled to engulf the home. As they tried to get out, debris struck the home, pulling it into the river and taking the Ashbys with it. Rod tried to hold onto Kim, but he lost his grip, and she was swept away, family members said.
“She’s just a happy, loving soul,” Meidinger said. “She’s known as Mama Kim to a lot of people, not just to her children. So she’s an incredibly vibrant individual that just spreads joy.”
In Asheville, Meghan Dry lost her 7-year-old son and both parents when they had to scramble to their roof to escape the floods, only to have the home break apart.
Three members of a North Carolina family, including a 7-year-old boy, died in the disastrous flooding from Helene. Now, the survivors share their story of immense grief and comforting faith.
“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,” Drye said. “My grief today is unfathomable. I’m sorrowful. I feel broken.”
In Erwin, Tennessee, employees and family members are mourning the loss of several workers at Impact Plastics, who were swept away trying to escape the raging Nolichucky River through town.
One of the presumed dead is Rosy Reynoso, a 29-year-old devoted wife and mother of two.
“At one point, she called her husband and said, ‘This is bad. I don’t think I’m going to make it. Can you tell our kids how much I love them and take care of them?” Annabel Andrade said as she held back her tears.
‘I knew there was nobody else coming’
For the survivors, many had harrowing tales of escaping the rushing waters.
John Zara and his family had to scramble to the roof of their home in Swannanoa as the river reached well beyond record levels.
“Within an hour or less the water went from street level to inside my house to up to my chest,” Zara said. Neighbor John Arndt and another came with kayaks to pluck Zara, his wife and two young kids off the roof, but the rescues weren’t done.
“Folks started to hear some noise over there (next door homes) and realized they were trapped in their attic,” Zara said. Two men who lived nearby made it over with an ax and cut the roofs open, rescuing two families and their dogs trapped inside their attics.
“There were sheds floating down (the street),” Arndt said. “We had to dodge tires, cars, washing machines, anything you could think of. It was just surreal. It was it was crazy.”
The shocking moment a camper van was carried over a waterfall in Fries, Virginia, was caught on camera last week. The camper goes over the waterfall and is not seen again before the video ends.
But they all made it to safety.
“There’s not enough thanks and graciousness in the world I can bestow upon them,” Zara said. “We owe our lives, my family’s lives and those other family’s lives to those two gentlemen that were able to get a kayak down to us…. I knew there was nobody else coming.”
But there were stories of perseverance as well.
A South Carolina man walked 17 miles through Helene’s destruction to still make it to his daughter’s wedding.
When a South Carolina father realized he might miss his daughter’s wedding due to impassable roads from Helene, he made a remarkable decision to walk 17 miles to be there. David Jones joins FOX Weather to share his journey through miles of debris to witness his daughter walk down the aisle.
(Stellar Photography)
In hard-hit Asheville, volunteers and staff at an animal shelter managed to save over 100 pets by scrambling to get them out of harm’s way before flooding devastated the town.
“When I went there, and I saw everything underwater, it was just devastating,” said Leah Craig Chumbley of Brother Wolf Animal Rescue. “And also, my gosh, thank God we got them out … If we hadn’t done that, all of them would have perished in that building.”
East Tennessee native and country music star Dolly Parton announced Friday she would donate $1 million as part of a $10 million donation partnership with Walmart.
“These are my mountains, these are my valleys, there are my rivers flowing like a stream,” Parton said. “These are my people, these mountain-colored rainbows. These are my people, and this is my home.”
Federal, state and local aid continues to pour into the region as communities slowly work to get back on their feet.
To redesign the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center or not?
That’s the decision Dallas City Council members will face this week. The redesign is under consideration because the current plans would cut off access to the Jefferson Viaduct, affecting drivers coming from Oak Cliff.
City Manager Kimberly Tolbert is urging the council to vote against the redesign. Tolbert announced earlier this week that changing course would delay the project into 2030 and create significant economic impacts.
“Since we closed the center in 2025, we’ve lost 3,000 associated jobs from not having a fully functioning,” said Craig Davis, Visit Dallas CEO.
A redesign would cost nearly $600 million. Davis said the city stands to lose $1.5 million each month in anticipated hotel tax revenue during the closure, which was already expected to last through 2029.
“Then any potential delay past that is going to get exponentially worse. There’s reputational damage that’s taking place because we’ve moved groups that we had promised,” Davis said.
The City Council is expected to vote on the redesign on Wednesday.
Curacao better make some room for a new national super hero.
Eloy Room delivered for his tiny Caribbean nation one of the finest performances in World Cup history on Saturday night, making 15 saves against a relentless Ecuador attack and helping The Blue Wave earn its first-ever point with a 0-0 draw against La Tri.
The outcome also allowed Germany, which beat Ivory Coast earlier in the day, to clinch Group E.
“It’s going to be an insane memory,” said Room, who plays for USL Championship club Miami FC. “You don’t think about it when you do it but of course it’s going to be something you look back to. For me as a goalkeeper, this is almost a perfect game.”
The 37-year-old Room, whose shutout of Jamaica last November sent Curacao to its first World Cup, bounced back in historic fashion from a 7-1 loss to Germany. His save total was one shy of the record — since saves became an official stat in 1966 — of 16 set by Tim Howard of the U.S. against Belgium on July 1, 2014, in a game that Room remembers watching.
Howard needed 120 minutes for his total, though. Nobody has made more saves than Room without extra time.
“I think I need a statue in Curacao now,” he said with a smile.
The draw doesn’t eliminate either team from knockout play, but it put Ecuador in dire shape going into its group finale. Those matches take place Thursday with Curacao facing Ivory Coast in Philadelphia and Ecuador playing Germany in New York.
“Well, there are things you cannot explain in football,” Ecuador coach Sebastian Beccacece said. “We wanted to win. We didn’t do it. I am the one who bears responsibility, and I told my team, ‘If you’re giving it all, competing, I have no complaints.’
“As long as we are alive, we will continue to give it our all. We are very united. We are like a family. No one said it would be easy.”
Ecuador certainly had a home-field advantage Saturday night at the home of the Kansas City Chiefs. Its fanbase, dressed like its players in bright yellow shirts, filled the stadium to the brim, making it look like a convention of Minions. There was only a couple of small pockets of blue-clad Curacao fans in a stadium whose capacity could house half of its island citizenry.
Among those in the crowd were Kansas City Royals players Bobby Witt Jr., Salvador Perez and Starling Marte.
And King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, who began a memorable day in Houston cheering the Dutch past Sweden, then flew to Kansas City to watch a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands make history.
“They were even dancing in the locker room to our music,” Room said. “That’s unreal that they witnessed this game.”
The pressure mounted on Ecuador earlier Saturday, when Deniz Undav’s goal in stoppage time lifted Germany to a 2-1 win over Ivory Coast. The outcome of that match in Toronto meant that La Tri faced World Cup elimination with a loss to The Blue Wave.
Curacao made sure the pressure continued once play began.
Throughout the first half, 78-year-old coach Dick Advocaat’s team kept finding seams through the middle of Ecuador’s defense, and that created open looks at the goal. But each time, Curacao would end the runs with a sloppy pass or a shot wide of net.
Ecuador wasted its best scoring chance in the opening minutes, when World Cup veteran Enner Valencia found nothing between him and the goalkeeper. But Room guessed right, dived to his left and deflected the shot to keep the game scoreless.
“For us it’s no shock,” Curacao midfielder Tahith Chong said. “We’ve gotten used to Eloy doing these unbelievable saves.”
The pressure of La Tri picked up in the second half — and each time, Room was standing in the way.
Moises Caicedo forced him into making a spectacular save early on, then Valencia did the same with a well-placed header that Room knocked wide. On the ensuing corner kick, Room made two more sensational saves before Curacao finally cleared it.
Ecuador wound up taking 27 shots to just 10 for Curacao. Ten of the 15 saves Room made were inside the box.
It was that kind of special night for him. And that kind of frustrating night for Ecuador.
“The team deserved more than they got,” Beccacece said, “and I am the one who is responsible for that.”
I’ve also heard that Atlanta sees great value in Swain at No. 23, but the Hawks have been signaling for some time that they are prepared (and perhaps even prefer) to trade their second pick in the first round after No. 8 for future draft capital. It sounds as though Atlanta will invite external trade interest for that pick until it is actually on the clock to make the selection Tuesday night.
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