Helene live updates: Storm kills at least 89 as floods, massive power outages devastate Southeast

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.

Thirty people have died in Buncombe County, North Carolina, Sheriff Quentin Miller said on a Zoom call with reporters today.

NBC News has not yet been able to confirm whether the 30 deaths in Buncombe County are in addition to the 11 deaths confirmed by North Carolina Gov. Cooper or include those Cooper announced.

Former President Donald Trump will head to Valdosta, Georgia, “to receive a briefing on the devastation of Hurricane Helene, facilitate the distribution of relief supplies, and deliver remarks to the press” tomorrow, his campaign said in a statement.

Trump criticized President Joe Biden’s and Vice President Kamala Harris’ response to the deadly storm in remarks today in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Twenty-five people have died in South Carolina as a result of Helene, Gov. Henry McMaster said at news press conference this afternoon.

“We haven’t seen anything quite like this before, particularly this part of the state, but it is a devastating blow,” McMaster said. He said that once officials can clear the debris around the state, “then we can get in and fill in stations, all the stores, all the things without electricity, including some of the cell towers,” which he said is “going to take patience, but we’re getting there.”

“We’re making steady progress,” McMaster said.

State Transportation Secretary Justin Powell said the Transportation Department was first working to open up interstates and has since turned its attention to farming routes, which “carry about half of the state’s traffic,” he said. “Once we get those resolved, we’ll move on to the secondary roads.”

Once the roads are clear, he said, crews will start debris cleanup, which most likely won’t “start in earnest” until October.

Asheville, North Carolina, residents spoke to NBC News as they lined up at a food bank in the storm-ravaged city.

One man said he thought “nobody fully understood how bad it was going to get” in the area after Helene passed through.

“It looks like a movie,” a woman in line said, adding that the roads look like Play-Doh. “The damage is astronomical.”

Another man said, “I’d never seen devastation like that before.”

People in the city are without water, power and gas and expect to remain that way for weeks.

World Central Kitchen is providing free meals in a number of locations in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, it said on X.

A list of locations where meals will be offered was posted on X, as well.

At least 11 people have been killed in North Carolina as a result of Helene, Gov. Roy Cooper said at a news briefing this afternoon.

The death count was previously 10.

“This unprecedented storm dropped from 10 to 29 inches of rain across the mountains, causing life-threatening floods and landslides,” Cooper said.

Cooper said that around 500 North Carolina National Guard members have been deployed across the state and the Transportation Department is distributing food and water. Over 1,000 people have taken refuge in 24 shelters in the state.

George Carter, a North Carolina resident and restaurant owner, has been driving up the mountain from his home in Lake Lure to get enough cell service to stay in contact with families and neighbors.

“It’s worse than you can ever imagine,” he said of the devastation. “I don’t know of anyone who’s injured, who’s lost their life, but there’s mud everywhere. Buildings are gone. Streets are gone. Homes are completely gone or damaged.”

He added that while his restaurant seems to have withstood the storm so far, nearby boathouses have washed away and people have lost their pets. 

“Maybe 40% of Chimney Rock is still there,” he said. “The stuff that’s still there is filled with mud and smashed up.”

Even for those who haven’t lost their homes, he said, food is likely to perish within the next day or so. What the community will need in the coming days includes food, water, gasoline and shelter.

More than 2.4 million utility customers are still without power from Florida all the way up to Virginia, according to PowerOutage.us.

South Carolina still accounts for the majority of outages, with more than 875,600 customers out of power, followed by Georgia, with a little more than 665,000.

There are around 300 active incidents on roads in North Carolina as a result of Helene, the state Transportation Department said.

At least 53 of the incidents are on major roads and 241 are on secondary roads, it said.

Members of the World Central Kitchen arrived in Pearson, Georgia, today to provide aid to residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

At least 190 people were rescued by teams in Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, according to an update issued by the office of Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The Florida National Guard rescued 155 people via ground and air, including an 80-year-old woman who uses a wheelchair and was in a flooded building, per the update. The National Guard also rescued 56 animals.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission conducted 21 rescues in Citrus County and evacuated 45 residents from the barrier islands. Urban Search and Rescue teams rescued 13 people.

“A lot of people” have been displaced from their homes in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Pinellas County on Florida’s west-central coast, according to county Emergency Management Director Cathie Perkins, who spoke at a news briefing this morning.

Perkins did not clarify how many people have been displaced.

President Joe Biden activated an emergency declaration in 17 Florida counties, including Pinellas, where at least nine people have been killed as a result of the hurricane.

Around 84 structures have reportedly been destroyed and over 4,000 have sustained water damage, according to Florida Urban Search and Rescue. The agency is continuing to survey damage in the county, including in the barrier islands.

About 74,428 utility customers are still without power in the county, according to Duke Energy.

“For those of you who live on the mainland, our crews are working diligently today and we expect to have at least 95% of those customers on tonight, by midnight,” Duke Energy spokesperson Jeff Baker said at the briefing. “For those who live on the barrier islands, you have to understand, as Director Perkins mentioned, there are areas that we have still not been able to even do damage assessment because the roads are just impassable.”

In the wake of the “catastrophic and historic impact” from Helene, Augusta National Golf Club chairman Fred Ridley said the club has been assessing damage to the golf course.

“In the meantime, our focus and efforts are foremost with our staff, neighbors and business owners in Augusta,” he said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with them as well as everyone throughout Georgia and the Southeast who have been affected.”

President Joe Biden is in “constant contact” with local and state officials to provide resources to communities affected by Helene, the president shared in a statement.

At least 73 people are unaccounted for in Unicoi County in east Tennessee in the aftermath of Helene, officials said in a news briefing Sunday morning.

The 73 people who are unaccounted for include missing people and ongoing welfare checks. No deaths have been reported at this time, and welfare checks are continuing in the county today, officials said.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., this morning reshared a post from the American Red Cross informing social media users how to help those affected by Helene.

Helene has been downgraded to a post-tropical depression but is stalling over the Tennessee Valley and dumping excessive rain in an already waterlogged region.

Over 2.5 million utility customers’ homes and businesses stretching from Florida up to Virginia are still without power, according to PowerOutage.US.

South Carolina accounts for most utility customers without power, with more than 924,500 still in the dark. Georgia currently has over 685,000 customers without power — and North Carolina trails behind it with a little more than 554,600.

In Florida, more than 230,600 do not have power, while almost 138,000 don’t have power in Virginia.

President Joe Biden has approved a major disaster declaration for Florida to provide assistance to areas affected by Hurricane Helene, according to a news release from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Residents in 17 counties, including Pinellas, Hillsborough and Manatee, can now receive funding like grants for temporary housing or home repairs and loans for uninsured property, the agency said.

“Federal funding is also available to state, tribal and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work” in all 17 counties, FEMA said.

Those hoping to receive financial assistance following the hurricane can apply online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov, call 1-800-621-3362 or use the FEMA app.

The Southeast is dealing with the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene after the storm destroyed entire communities from Florida to North Carolina with flooding and mudslides that caused widespread damage.

Carl McPeak was visiting Asheville from Arkansas for work when he got stuck in Helene’s wrath.

Like plenty of others, “I didn’t think it was going to be this bad,” he said, adding he thought it was just going to be a “bit of rain.”

That was until he saw shipping containers, semitrucks and propane tanks “floating by” in the flooding, he said.

He said it got real for him “when I woke up this morning and the water was still there and I was like, ‘Oh, man. I’m not getting out. I’m going to be stuck here [with] no power, no cell signal, no news, no way to get out, no way to get home, no way to get word to my family that I’m OK.’”

McPeak has been carrying a stick with him to poke through the 18 inches of mud that has piled up in town since floodwaters retreated.

Valdosta resident Bill Parmelee spoke to NBC News’ Priscilla Thompson on how Hurricane Helene “sounded like a freight train” as it tore through the area. Large tree limbs and branches littered Parmelee’s yard and the roof of his home was damaged.

A young manatee that washed ashore at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, was rescued and released back into Tampa Bay, the base said.

The mammal, native to Florida waters, washed ashore amid Hurricane Helene’s coastal surge, the base said in a Facebook post Saturday.

Video posted by the base shows about a dozen people circling the large creature — they typically weight about 1,000 pounds, according to state wildlife officials — and hoisting it in the shallows of a boat launch ramp using a tarp or similar object.

The base thanked the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for helping with the rescue. Base personnel named the manatee Troy, which in Greek mythology is the hometown of Helen and the location of a Greek siege mounted to take her back from abductors.

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A storm-related death has been confirmed in Greenwood County, South Carolina, after a tree fell onto a house and pinned a man down. That brings the total number of storm-related deaths to 65.

“Greenwood Fire Department was able to cut the person free and he was removed,” county coroner Sonny Cox told NBC News.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has deployed more than 3,200 staff and federal partners to help with the response to Hurricane Helene, it said Saturday.

Its response includes search-and-rescue and swift-water rescue teams that have completed more than 600 rescues in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, FEMA said.

President Joe Biden approved a major disaster declaration for North Carolina, where at least 10 people have died and flooding brought major destruction across the state.

The approval makes federal funding available to people in 25 counties and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the White House press office said in a statement Saturday.

“Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster,” the statement said.

More counties and forms of assistance could be added after ongoing damage assessments are completed.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — A historic village in western North Carolina is underwater after bearing the brunt of devastating flooding damage from Helene.

Tree branches, logs and a dumpster floated across Asheville’s Biltmore Village, renowned for being built and owned by a single individual.

Resident Tammy Borgesen was among the dozens of people standing outside a downtown hotel, one of the few places with Wi-Fi access, hoping to connect with loved ones.

“We’ve been trying to get an email or a text out to just let everybody know we’re OK,” said Borgesen, who had water but no power at her home.

Water levels reached several feet, with some areas nearing the tops of street signs. Fast-moving water surged above front-door steps, inundating buildings and small businesses as Asheville appeared nearly flattened by Helene.

More than 200 people have been rescued from floodwaters in North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper’s office said in a statement Saturday. The Department of Transportation said more than 400 roads are closed in the state, impeding travel and rescue efforts.

Read the full story here.