North Carolina Communities ‘Wiped Off the Map’ by Helene, Governor Says

Debris in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Asheville, N.C., on Sept. 30, 2024. Mike Stewart/AP Photo

The governor of North Carolina said that “hundreds of roads” were destroyed and that entire communities were “wiped off the map” because of storm Helene last week and over the weekend.

“Consider the roads closed in western North Carolina,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper told CNN on Sept. 30. “We do not need sightseers coming in to observe the damage. We ask you not to come in unless you are on a specific mission to help with rescue.”

The North Carolina Department of Transportation warned in a Sept. 30 post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that “all roads in Western NC should be considered closed to all non-emergency travel.”

In a separate post, the agency included photos of area roads that were collapsed, washed out, or blocked by debris.

In the Asheville area, which was especially hard-hit by the storm, people who are still seeking to evacuate can use Interstate 40 and Interstate 26 East, the department stated. Residents in other areas need to consult local emergency officials first before traveling.

The mayor of Asheville described the aftermath as a “post-apocalyptic scene.”

Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer told reporters on Sept. 30 that the city is “seeing just piles of people’s houses that were destroyed. Buildings that were destroyed. Cars overturned.”

“The power lines look like spaghetti. It’s hard to describe the chaos that it looks like,” she said.

“We are cut off from highway access from three of the four major highways into Asheville. Some resources are having to be flown in. ... I can’t even think about a time frame for how long it’s going to take to recover from this storm.”

The storm killed more than 100 people across North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, and Virginia, and the death toll is expected to rise once rescue teams reach isolated towns and telecommunications are restored.

“We know that death toll will rise,” Asheville’s mayor said. “We’ve heard accounts of people seeing houses floating down the river with people in them.”

In North Carolina, some 300 roads were closed and more than 7,000 people have registered for Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance, officials said on Sept. 30. The National Guard was flying 1,000 tons of food and water to remote areas by plane and helicopter.

North Carolina was coordinating 92 search-and-rescue teams from 20 states and the federal government, according to Cooper. Most efforts were in the Appalachian Mountains, which run through the western part of the state, where the storm ripped up roads, leveled trees, and tossed homes about.

Tracking website PowerOutage.us shows that nearly 1 million people were without power in South Carolina and North Carolina. More than 450,000 were without power in Georgia, 73,000 lacked power in Virginia, and 64,000 had no power in Florida as of the morning of Oct. 1.

In total, the storm knocked out service to about 5.5 million customers.

Helene made landfall on the evening of Sept. 26 in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 “major” hurricane with 140 mile-per-hour winds before it was downgraded. However, the storm produced significant rainfall across the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Georgia.

President Joe Biden said he would visit North Carolina on Oct. 2 and Georgia and Florida soon after. He may also ask Congress to return to Washington for a special session to pass supplemental aid funding.

Reuters contributed to this report.