Biden plans to survey the damage in North Carolina as Helene’s death toll rises above 130

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — President Joe Biden was scheduled Wednesday to survey the damage in the mountains of western North Carolina, where exhausted rescue workers continued to work around the clock to clear roads, restore power and cell phone service and reach people stranded by Hurricane Helene. The storm had killed at least 133 people and hundreds more were still missing as of Monday evening, four days after Helene first made landfall.

Meanwhile, election officials across the South have made extraordinary preparations to ensure displaced residents can vote in the upcoming presidential election.

Officials in the hard-hit tourist hub of Asheville said their water system suffered “catastrophic” damage that could take weeks to fully repair. Government officials, aid groups and volunteers delivered supplies by air, truck and even mule to the city and surrounding mountain communities. At least 40 people died in the county that includes Asheville.

The death toll in North Carolina included one after another of terrifying stories of people who were trapped by flooding in their homes and vehicles or killed by falling trees. A courthouse security officer died after being submerged in a truck. A couple and a 6-year-old boy waiting for rescue on the roof drowned when part of their house collapsed.

Rescuers managed to save dozens of people, including an infant and two others who were stuck on the roof of a car in Atlanta. More than 50 patients and staff at a Tennessee hospital were airlifted from the roof of a hospital in a daring rescue operation.

The storm caused North Carolina’s worst flooding in a century. Rainfall estimates have topped more than 61 centimeters in some areas since Wednesday, and several major roads into Asheville were washed out or blocked by mudslides. This includes a 6.4-mile stretch of Interstate 40 that was severely damaged.

Joey Hopkins, North Carolina’s secretary of transportation, asked people to stay off the roads on Monday.

“The damage is severe, and we continue to say that unless you have a reason to be in North Carolina, do not travel on western North Carolina roads,” Hopkins said at a news conference. “Yes. I don’t want you here if you don’t live here and help with the storm.

At the Ingles grocery store in Asheville, Elizabeth Teall-Fleming stood in line with dozens of other people waiting to go inside, hoping to find some non-perishable food because they had no electricity. She planned to heat some canned food for her family on the camping stove.

“I’m just glad they’re open and able to let us in,” she said.

Teall-Fleming said she was surprised by the fierceness of the storm.

“Just seeing the few messages that we were able to see was shocking and really sad.”

In one neighborhood, residents collected water from a stream in buckets to flush toilets.

Others waited in line for more than a block at Mountain Valley Water to fill milk jugs and other containers they could find with drinking water.

Derek Farmer, who brought three-gallon containers of apple juice, said he was prepared for the storm, but now he was nervous after three days without water. “I just didn’t know how bad it was going to be,” Farmer said.

Helene roared ashore in northern Florida late Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane and quickly moved north. The storm upended life in the Southeast, with deaths also reported in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia. The authorities warn that reconstruction will be long and difficult.

Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Monday that more than 1,000 people were staying in shelters.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper gave an aerial tour of the Asheville area and later met with workers handing out meals.

“It was an unprecedented storm that hit western North Carolina,” he said later. “This requires an unprecedented response.”

Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said during a special board meeting Monday that they are considering options for voters in the hardest-hit counties. She planned to provide more information at Tuesday’s news conference, including how someone might cite a “natural disaster” as a reason for not being able to provide photo ID.

Election workers across Georgia returned to work, even though some offices experienced power outages and limited damage to the Internet and infrastructure.

In Lowndes County, local board of elections workers were working on two computers instead of the usual eight, said elections coordinator Deb Cox. There is no Wi-Fi in the office either.