Picturesque North Carolina town devastated by Hurricane Helene, death toll tops 100

Shocking images show how a picturesque North Carolina village was almost wiped out by Hurricane Helene – the death toll from the storm rose to 107 and desperate rescue operations continued across the southwest on Monday.

Chimney Rock initially appeared to have escaped Helene's wrath — until floodwaters overtopped a levee on Saturday, inundating the area and destroying nearly everything in sight, the News & Observer noted.

“The village? There’s just nothing left,” rescue crew leader Chris Murray told the outlet.

“I’ve never seen concentrated damage like we saw here.”

Helene swept through six states, initially making landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane and leaving millions of people without power and communications. But North Carolina was hit hardest: At least 30 of the more than 100 dead came from the Tar Heel state, and hundreds are still missing.

At Chimney Rock, photos show the once idyllic village covered in mud and debris. About half of the businesses on the city's south side near the Broad River have disappeared in the massive flooding.

“The damage is unimaginable,” Pamlico County rescue workers said over the weekend.

A frightening video with sirens wailing showed how Hurricane Helene's intense flooding devastated the village on Saturday.

The clip begins with a powerful wave of muddy water rushing across a yard in Chimney Rock, demolishing parts of a house and sweeping away debris with the tide.

“My car is gone. Everything is gone. “It’s all gone,” the unidentified filmmaker can be heard saying, while a second person hastily reassures them: “It’s fine.”

The flooding was so strong that SUVs and roads were washed away and destroyed.

Meanwhile, other parts of the Southwest were devastated by the storm's path, prompting massive rescue operations.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell traveled through southern Georgia on Sunday and planned to be in North Carolina on Monday.

“It is still an active search and rescue mission” in western North Carolina, Criswell said. “And we know that there are many communities that are cut off just because of the geography” of the mountains, where damage to roads and bridges has cut off certain areas.

A North Carolina county that includes the mountain town of Asheville reported 30 people killed by the storm, and several more fatalities reported in North Carolina on Sunday brought the total death toll in several states to at least 91 people.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper predicted the death toll would rise as rescuers and other emergency responders reached areas isolated by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure and widespread flooding.

Supplies were airlifted to the region around the isolated city. Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder promised she would have food and water in Ashville by Monday.

“My staff has made every possible request for assistance to the state and we have worked with every single organization that has contacted us. I promise you we are very close,” Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder said during a Sunday call with reporters.

He urged residents in western North Carolina to avoid traveling as more than 50 search parties were spread across the region looking for stranded people.

41 people were saved in a rescue operation north of Asheville. Another mission focused on rescuing a single infant. Teams found people through both 911 calls and social media messages, said Todd Hunt, adjutant general for the North Carolina National Guard.

Tampa Bay, Florida, was also hit by a massive storm surge that sent water into people's attics.

More than 11 inches of rain fell in Atlanta, more than any 48-hour period in recorded history. So many trees fell in South Carolina that more than 40 percent of the state temporarily lost power.

A 27-year-old mother and her one-month-old twins were among the more than 20 people killed in Georgia on Friday when trees fell on their home in Thomson, west of Augusta.

“I currently have two people who need oxygen, generators and one person who is on dialysis and needs one. Does anyone have electricity willing to borrow their generators? I will arrange delivery and return,” South Carolina Representative Neal Collins wrote on X, urging users to contact him so he could initiate rescue efforts.

President Biden on Saturday promised federal government help for Helene's “overwhelming” devastation. He also approved a disaster declaration for North Carolina and made federal funding available for affected individuals.

with post wires