People in the North Carolina mountains are desperate and exhausted days after the flood that hit Helene

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) – Desperate residents of storm-ravaged mountains in western North Carolina lined up for water and food, hunted for cell signals and diverted buckets from streams to flush toilets, days after the remnants of Hurricane Helene flooded the region . Exhausted rescuers worked around the clock to clear roads, restore power and phone service and reach people stranded by the storm, which has killed at least 133 people in the southeast of the country, with the death toll expected to rise.

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

President Joe Biden was scheduled to survey the damage in the region on Wednesday. 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 Buncombe County, including Asheville, a bustling city of 94,000.

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.

How some of the hardest hit areas are faring

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.

“The damage is severe and we continue to say that unless you have a reason to be in North Carolina, do not travel on the roads of western North Carolina,” Hopkins said at a news conference. “We 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 get inside, hoping to find non-perishable food because they had no electricity. She planned to heat canned goods for her family on the camp stove.

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

Teall-Fleming said she was surprised by the storm’s ferocity: “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 came ashore in northern Florida late Thursday evening 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, Tennessee and Virginia. The authorities warn that reconstruction will be long and difficult.

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said 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.

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

He’s worried about the presidential election

Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said during Monday’s special meeting of the board that it is considering options for voters in counties hardest hit by the crisis. 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, election workers were working on two computers instead of the usual eight, said elections coordinator Deb Cox. There is also no Wi-Fi in the office.

“As of this morning, we are fully operational,” Cox said. “It’s slower than usual because we have fewer resources.”

In Columbia County, election worker training will begin later this week, said Nancy Gay, election director, but may have to change locations because of the power outage.

“This includes our poll workers,” Gay said. “They have no power. They don’t have gas. You need to give employees time to process everything and come up with a plan before I can actually expect them to come and show up for training.”

Mark Ard of the Florida Secretary of State’s office said the Division of Elections is recommending that local election inspectors contact postal officials to discuss a mitigation plan for mailing, delivering and returning ballots.

Why Western North Carolina Has Been Hit So Hard

Western North Carolina suffered relatively more damage because that’s where Helene’s remnants came into contact with the higher elevations and colder air of the Appalachians, producing even more rainfall.

Asheville and many surrounding mountain towns were built in valleys, making them especially vulnerable to devastating rains and floods. Moreover, by the time Helene arrived, the ground was already saturated, said Christiaan Patterson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

“By the time Helene came to the Carolinas, we had already had this rain and more rain,” Patterson said.

Climate change has exacerbated the conditions that allow such storms to develop, intensifying rapidly in warming waters and sometimes turning into powerful cyclones, sometimes within hours.

Destruction from Florida to Virginia

Along Florida’s Gulf Coast, water flooded the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, forcing workers to relocate two manatees and a sea turtle. All the animals were unharmed, but most of the aquarium’s essential equipment was damaged or destroyed, said James Powell, the aquarium’s executive director.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said the storm “literally spared no one.” Most residents of Augusta and surrounding areas, a city of about 200,000 people near the South Carolina border, were without power.

Helene was the deadliest tropical cyclone to hit the state since Hurricane Hugo hit north of Charleston in 1989, killing at least 30 people in South Carolina.

Tropical Storm Kirk could become a major hurricane

Tropical Storm Kirk formed in the eastern Atlantic on Monday. It is expected to become a hurricane on Tuesday evening and could become a major hurricane on Thursday, according to the US National Hurricane Center. The storm was centered about 935 miles (1,505 kilometers) west of the Cape Verde Islands, with maximum wind speeds of 95 km/h. There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect and the storm system posed no threat to land.

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Associated Press journalists Gary D. Robertson in Asheville contributed to this report; John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia; Beatrice Dupuy in New York; Zeke Miller and Aamer Madhani in Washington; and Jeff Amy in Atlanta.

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