At least 88 dead from Helene; floods, massive power outages devastate Southeast

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, addressed Helene at the beginning of her rally in Las Vegas tonight, saying everyone sends their thoughts and prayers. She also thanked first responders.

“We will stand with these communities for as long as it takes to make sure that they are able to recover and rebuild,” she said.

Harris said she received an operational briefing today from FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell.

“The president and I have told state and local leaders we will provide whatever help they need in the days and weeks ahead,” she added.

White House officials have said Biden and Harris intend to travel to communities affected by Helene as soon as it is possible to do so without disrupting emergency response operations.

Several prisons in North Carolina are operating on generator power, according to the state Department of Adult Correction. Bottled water is being provided to facilities that don't have adequate water services.

None of the prisons in the state have been evacuated and none have flooded, but should they do so, the NCDAC is prepared, it said in an update on its website.

The facilities in the storm's path received additional supplies, and generator fuel supply is evaluated daily, the agency said.

Contacting some of the prison facilities may be "difficult or impossible" at this time, the update said, because prisons must "reserve telephone capacity for emergencies," as "non-emergency communications networks in western North Carolina are greatly damaged and will likely take days to recover."

The update said visitation at all prisons in the state is suspended until further notice.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp will not be in attendance when Trump visits his state tomorrow.

Kemp will be in Augusta touring storm damage while Trump is in Valdosta, according to an aide for Kemp.

The two cities are about 218 miles apart, or over a four-hour drive.

The Trump campaign was not expecting Kemp to attend his Valdosta stop, a campaign spokesperson said.

Trump will receive a briefing on the devastation, assist with relief supply distribution and deliver remarks, his campaign said.

Asheville resident Alyssa Wilson expressed frustration over the lack of quick response after Hurricane Helene hit North Carolina. The devastating storm made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane and traveled through Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee.

Dr. Sean Ochsenbein, chief medical officer for Unicoi County Community Hospital, Sycamore Shoals Hospital and Johnson County Community Hospital, was the last person to be rescued off the roof of the Unicoi hospital as it was overrun with floodwaters after Helene passed through.

Ochsenbein said being back at the scene of the massive rescue mission he helped lead is "painful."

More than 60 patients were taken by helicopter from the roof of the Unicoi hospital to safety.

"There were literally flowing rapids," 6 to 12 inches high, "flowing within the building," he said.

He said all of the team members, even with the rising floods, "were pushing those gurneys to get them out through the doors" of the hospital and to safety. They then had to use ladders from fire trucks to get patients on the roof, Ochsenbein said.

Ochsenbein and his team had to hoist patients up on to the roof.

"Some of us carried individual patients on our backs. We just didn't know how much time we had," Ochsenbein said.

Now, the efforts turn to finding the unaccounted for in the area, including some of Ochsenbein's team members.

Days after Helene moved through Asheville, North Carolina, streets remain flooded, downed power lines and trees block some roads and cell service is mostly nonexistent. Residents have waited hours in line for $15 of gas.

In one neighborhood, a dog park with picnic tables, a basketball court and a track are still submerged in water. As is an RV park at the end of the park.

“This is where people did their daily walk with their kids and dogs,” said Chante Hooks, 46, who lives around the corner from the park.

Her home wasn’t damaged, and though they did lose water, they haven’t lost power, she said.

Hooks said that the now-submerged park would overflow when it rained but that it never got as bad as this. “This is a disaster,” she said.

Hooks, who was born in Asheville, said the last natural disaster she experienced in the city was a blizzard in the ’90s when snow reached the top of doors.

“It wasn’t as bad as this, though,” she said.

NBC News’ Guad Venegas reports on search and rescue efforts in Florida's Barrier Islands, where deadly storm surge from Hurricane Helene rushed into homes and businesses.

At least nine people died in Pinellas County, which includes the cities of Treasure Island and Indian Rocks Beach. All nine appear to have drowned in their homes, officials said.

"Water is the number one killer. That's why the evacuation orders exist," Diana Matty with Florida Urban Search and Rescue said.

In flood-damaged Tennessee, 153 people are unaccounted for amid cellphone and other communications outages, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said today.

Amid post-Helene flooding in the northwestern section of the state, the bureau fielded 337 calls from people unsure about the whereabouts of friends, neighbors and loved ones, it said in an update.

Of those, 153 people who were subjects of the calls remain unaccounted for, it said. While there could be even more people who are at least out of touch, the bureau believes the actual number of truly missing people may be lower.

"With limited cell service and infrastructure challenges in the impacted areas, authorities believe many of these individuals are safe, but unable to presently identify themselves as such," it said.

The county with the most people reported missing is Washington (62), followed by Unicoi (47), where a hospital inundated by floodwater became a virtual island as rescuers pulled more than 50 patients from atop, in and around the structure.

The bureau said those who want to report missing people should have as much information at hand as possible, including names, phone numbers, vehicle identification and last known whereabouts.

Two people have died in Tennessee as a result of the hurricane, Myron Hughes, spokesperson for the Tennessee All Hazards Incident Management Team, said at a news conference this evening.

One death was in Johnson County, and the other was in Unicoi County. No other details were released.