More than 150 deaths have been confirmed since Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 storm, including dozens in flood-stricken North Carolina.
“Communities were wiped off the map,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said.
Entire communities in the state are underwater, with dozens of people dead in Buncombe County.
Just before Helene hit, storms drenched Asheville and surrounding towns in western North Carolina, complicating the situation. And then Helene inundated parts of southern Appalachia with more than 2 feet of rain.
President Joe Biden will visit the devastated state Wednesday to survey the damage.