(NewsNation) — Hundreds of people across the Southeast are still missing Friday morning just over a week after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend and wreaked havoc in six states.
Western North Carolina was among the hardest-hit places, and now time is running out to find any remaining survivors.
So far, the massive storm has killed more than 200 people, wiped away smaller communities and displaced thousands. Search and rescue crews from all over the nation remain on the ground, searching for missing survivors.
Road to recovery after Hurricane Helene
Madison County said it needs more volunteers to help with the massive cleanup. But for those who have come out to help so far, they are masked up and working to shovel the mud all over town. Many fear that what they are cleaning up could be toxic.
A firefighter with the volunteer fire department says it received help from the state with cadaver dogs.
“(It’s) very important because they can smell things we can’t see and as you can see down here and in town, we have large debris piles we can’t see through and it’s very important,” said Capt. Morgan Silvers with the Marshall Fire Department.
While recovery operations continue, several residents on the top of the mountains or in the valleys still don’t have access to power, cutting them off from the rest of the world.
Supplies have been airlifted in and delivered by mule train in some areas due to the difficult terrain and storm damage. Officials in Asheville have said it could be several weeks for critical services, including water, to be restored.
The North Carolina National Guard said it has airlifted multiple people in need of medical assistance directly to hospitals for care with the help of members of the Connecticut National Guard. So far, the guard has completed 146 flight missions and rescued a total of 538 people and 150 pets.
But now that it’s been a week since the catastrophic flooding, the hope first responders will find survivors is dwindling.
Hurricane Helene’s devastation
After making landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, Helene rapidly weakened to a tropical storm as it traveled north. However, wind and rain still caused significant damage to several states, including Georgia and the Carolinas.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has shipped more than 9.3 million meals, nearly 3 million gallons of water, 150 generators and over 260,000 tarps to communities affected by the storm.
One of the hardest-hit areas is western North Carolina, where Asheville and surrounding towns in the Blue Ridge Mountains experienced record-breaking floods. Following the storm, loss of power, water and cellphone service as well as damage to hundreds of roads left Asheville virtually cut off from the rest of the world.
As of Friday morning, more than 200,000 people are still without power in Georgia. In South Carolina, there are another 282,000 outages, and in North Carolina another 231,000, according to poweroutage.us.
The town of Black Mountain, North Carolina, says its fire and police departments have been able to account for more than 90% of the town’s residents, but they are still continuing to look for more.
So far, the North Carolina National Guard said as of Thursday afternoon, it has rescued over 450 people in 13 different counties. North Carolina’s Department of Adult Correction, meanwhile, had to evacuate and relocate more than 800 prisoners due to Hurricane Helene damage.
Hurricane Helene has killed more than 200
According to The Associated Press, more than 215 people have died from the storm so far, with 72 of those deaths in Buncombe County, North Carolina, alone. The number is expected to rise as officials and volunteers continue searching for the missing. Helene is now the deadliest hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland since Katrina in 2005.
