The death toll in western North Carolina surged to 35 as search and rescue teams discovered bodies trapped in trees and buried under debris following the devastation of Hurricane Helene. The storm, which hit the Southeast last week, has now claimed 120 lives nationwide.
In Buncombe County, which includes the city of Asheville, residents are reeling from the storm’s destruction. Entire neighborhoods have been wiped out by flooding and mudslides, leaving thousands displaced. “There were bodies in trees. They were finding bodies under rubble,” said Black Mountain resident Alyssa Hudson, who managed to escape the worst of the flooding but lost her home.
The storm’s impact has been especially severe in the small mountain towns around Asheville. Black Mountain, a village of 8,400 people, saw entire homes swept away by the floodwaters. Survivors are sharing harrowing stories of watching buildings collapse and people struggling to survive in rising waters.
Rescue operations continue in full force, but the damage to roads and infrastructure has made it difficult to reach many areas. In some cases, volunteers have resorted to using mules to carry supplies across flooded highways.
Chimney Rock, a tourist destination famous for being featured in the movies “Dirty Dancing” and “Last of the Mohicans,” has been reduced to a swamp. Local officials reported that the town’s entire historic district has been washed away.
With widespread damage to critical infrastructure, including Asheville’s water system, residents are facing an uphill battle in the recovery effort. As the region begins to assess the full extent of the devastation, early estimates suggest the damage could total $34 billion.
