ASHEVILLE, NC – A historic village in western North Carolina is submerged after bearing the brunt of Hurricane Helen’s devastating flood damage.
Tree branches, logs and trash floated across Asheville’s Biltmore Village, which is famously owned and built by an individual.
Resident Tammy Borgesen was one of dozens of people lined up outside a downtown hotel, one of the few places with Wi-Fi access, hoping to connect with loved ones.
“We’re trying to get an email or a text to let everyone know we’re OK,” said Borgeson, who had water but no power in his home.
He said he plans to wait out the storm and “hope for the best.”
“We’re in a weird mess,” Borgeson said.
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The water level reached several feet, in some areas nearing the top of the street signs. Fast-moving water rose above front door steps, submerged buildings and small businesses, and Asheville was nearly flattened by Helen.
“We knew the flood was coming, but we didn’t know it would be this devastating,” a woman at the scene told NBC News. “All loss and destruction is heartbreaking.”
More than 200 people have been rescued from floodwaters in North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper’s office said in a statement Saturday. More than 400 roads in the state have been closed, hampering travel and rescue operations, the transport department said.
Asheville, population 95,000, is about 140 miles west of Charlotte.
“It blows my mind, and I’m very concerned about friends, neighbors and businesses along the river,” one told NBC News, while partially blaming climate change for the destruction. “It’s a reminder to me that climate change is going to affect us all. No one is safe from the impacts of climate change, and we need to act now.
The disaster came as Hurricane Helen made landfall in Georgia on Thursday night, causing widespread devastation across the southern United States.
As of Saturday, at least 53 people were dead and about 3 million customers were without power in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Virginia, according to Poweroutage.us.
The storm, now a post-tropical cyclone, has hit the southeast hard.
More than 50 people were stranded Friday at an East Tennessee hospital due to fast-rising waters and high winds, after several attempts to airlift them failed during a dangerous rescue operation.
President Joe Biden has already approved emergency declaration requests from the governors of several southern states affected by Hurricane.
Georgia, Florida, Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee and South Carolina will receive various federal aid from the state after the storm made landfall as a very destructive Category 4 hurricane.
Biden has also ordered the deployment of more than 1,500 federal personnel to the region, including search and rescue teams, medical teams and power restoration teams.
