ASHEVILLE, NC – A historic village in western North Carolina is submerged after bearing the brunt of Hurricane Helen’s devastating flood damage.
Tree branches, logs and trash floated across Asheville’s Biltmore Village, which is famously owned and built by an individual.
Resident Tammy Borgesen was one of dozens of people lined up outside a downtown hotel, one of the few places with Wi-Fi access, hoping to connect with loved ones.
“We’re trying to get an email or a text to let everyone know we’re OK,” said Borgeson, who had water but no power in his home.
He said he plans to wait out the storm and “hope for the best.”
“We’re in a weird mess,” Borgeson said.
Water levels were seen several feet high and in some places near the top of street signs.
“We knew the flood was coming, but we didn’t know it would be this devastating,” a woman at the scene told NBC News. “All loss and destruction is heartbreaking.”
Asheville, population 95,000, is about 140 miles west of Charlotte.
“It blows my mind, and I’m very concerned about friends, neighbors and businesses along the river,” one told NBC News, while partially blaming climate change for the destruction. “It’s a reminder to me that climate change is going to affect us all. No one is safe from the impacts of climate change, and we need to act now.
The disaster came as Hurricane Helen made landfall in Georgia on Thursday night, causing widespread devastation across the southern United States.
At least 42 people were confirmed dead as of Saturday and about 3.3 million customers woke up without power in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Ohio.
The storm, now a post-tropical cyclone, has hit the southeast hard.
More than 50 people were stranded Friday at an East Tennessee hospital due to fast-rising waters and high winds, after several attempts to airlift them failed during a dangerous rescue operation.
President Joe Biden has already approved emergency declaration requests from the governors of several southern states affected by Hurricane.
Georgia, Florida, Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee and South Carolina will receive various federal aid from the state after the storm made landfall as a very destructive Category 4 hurricane.
Biden has also ordered the deployment of more than 1,500 federal personnel to the region, including search and rescue teams, medical teams and power restoration teams.
