Crews Search For Survivors In North Carolina's Mountains Days After Helene's Deluge

Exhausted emergency crews worked around the clock to clear roads, restore power and phone service, and reach those still stranded by the storm.

SWANNANOA, N.C. (AP) — Rescuers fanned out across the mountains of western North Carolina on Tuesday in search of anyone still unaccounted for since Hurricane Helene’s remnants caused catastrophic damage to the Southeast, with a death toll nearing 140 people.

Many of those who survived what was one of the deadliest storms in U.S. history were left without electricity or any way to reach out for help. Some cooked food on charcoal grills or hiked to high ground in the hopes of finding a signal to call loved ones.

The devastation was especially bad in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where at least 40 people died in and around the city of Asheville, a tourism haven known for its art galleries, breweries and outdoor activities.

Just outside the city, in the small community of Swannanoa, receding floodwaters revealed cars stacked on top of others and trailer homes that had floated away during the storm. Roads were caked with mud and debris and pockmarked by sinkholes.

Exhausted emergency crews worked around the clock to clear roads, restore power and phone service, and reach those still stranded by the storm, which killed at least 139 people across six states. Nearly half of the deaths were in North Carolina, while dozens of others were in South Carolina and Georgia.