Death toll from Hurricane Helene climbs to 130 as rescue crews frantically search for survivors

HOUSTON, US (AA) – The death toll in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene climbed to 130 Monday night as rescue crews in the southeast US frantically continued their search for survivors.

That number is expected to rise in the coming days as search and rescue operations are able to navigate into areas deluged by the massive flooding generated by the storm.

The state of North Carolina has suffered the brunt of the blow, with officials confirming at least 56 deaths, according to both CNN and CBS News. Most of those deaths, 35, happened in Buncombe County in the mountainous regions near the city of Asheville, where flash flooding and landslides buried homes and buildings.

“We are seeing just piles of people’s houses that were destroyed, buildings that were destroyed, cars overturned,” Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer said at a news conference.

“The power lines look like spaghetti. It’s hard to describe the chaos that it looks like. It really feels like a post-apocalyptic scene,” she added.

Rescue and recovery efforts continue to be hampered by flood waters which have shut down hundreds of roads and prevented emergency crews from navigating into the devastated areas where many people have been trapped on the rooftops of their houses for days.

– ‘Unprecedented tragedy’ –

“This is an unprecedented tragedy that requires an unprecedented response,” said North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper at a news conference, adding that more deaths were expected as rescue crews reach isolated areas cut off by the flooding.

Helene made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast late Thursday night and carved out a 650-mile (1,046-kilometer) swath of destruction all the way to the Atlantic coastal states of the Carolinas.

South Carolina has reported 30 deaths so far, and at least 25 people were killed in Georgia, according to state officials. Another 13 people were killed in Florida, in addition to four in Tennessee and two more in Virginia, according to numbers compiled by both CBS and CNN through emergency officials.

More than 1.6 million people are still without electricity as crews work around the clock to restore the power grid. Officials said it may take weeks for some communities to get electricity restored.

With many areas still cut off from rescue crews on the ground due to the flooding, some emergency operations are now being conducted to airdrop food, water and medical supplies to residents stranded in their neighborhoods.

At least 600 people have been reported missing in North Carolina, but downed telecommunication networks have played a large part in families not being able to contact their loved ones. Emergency officials have activated disaster roaming on all cell service providers in hopes of regaining communication with those missing.

“God willing, they’re alive. But there’s no way to contact them,” said President Joe Biden at a White House news conference. The president is planning a visit to North Carolina on Wednesday to tour the devastated areas and meet with state and emergency officials.

The federal government has already deployed more than 3,500 emergency personnel to help with recovery efforts and another 1,250 search and rescue workers will be sent to the region in the coming days, according to the US Department of Homeland Security.