Days after Hurricane Helene tore through the Southeast and killed more than 100 people in six states, the search for survivors continued Monday as dozens of people across multiple states remained missing.
Though Helene first made landfall Thursday in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, its devastation has spread much farther. North Carolina accounted for the most deaths at 49 as of Monday afternoon, according to a count by NBC News. At least 12 deaths were reported in Florida, and Georgia has reported 25 deaths, South Carolina 29, Tennessee four and Virginia two.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has said the death toll is likely to climb as emergency workers and other rescuers reach those in isolated areas. Western North Carolina and particularly the mountain city of Asheville were hit hard by the storm, with flooding making some neighborhoods unrecognizable.
Buncombe County, which includes Asheville, had confirmed 40 deaths by Monday evening. The city has received thousands of reports of people unaccounted for, Lillian Govus, the county’s director of communications, said on NBC’s “TODAY” show Monday morning. Many of the reports are the result of the area’s lack of phone connection, which is preventing people from reaching family and friends, but it’s not clear how many.
“Driving through the area where I live, homes are gone, and that’s a big, big concern for us,” Govus said. “Where are those people?”
President Joe Biden said that he will visit North Carolina on Wednesday and that Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell will stay in Asheville for the “foreseeable future.”
“There are reports of up to 600 people unaccounted for because they can’t be contacted,” Biden said Monday from the White House. “God willing, they’re alive.”
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said at least 1,000 FEMA workers are on the ground responding to the destruction.
“We are very much still in a search-and-rescue mode,” he said. “We have our search-and-rescue teams on the ground in multiple locations.”
Residents in North Carolina banded together Monday to help one another find the missing.
Sara Wolfe, 25, a resident of Weaverville, about 10 miles from Asheville, said she found her assignments in a Facebook group launched for missing North Carolina and Tennessee residents.
“I saw so many people asking about their loved ones that lived in Weaverville,” she said. “I figured since I’m going there anyways, I could make a point to go check on them.”
She made a list of addresses to visit and posted updates in the group.
“As long as I have the gas in my car, I plan to keep doing this for people as long as I need to,” she said.
All of the people she visited Monday had run out of water, food and gas but were safe. One of the campers she stopped at had been struck by a tree, but no one was injured.
In Erwin, Tennessee, on Sunday, families searching for news days after Helene blasted through town held poster-size photos of their missing loved ones as search-and-rescue crews combed areas that had been overtaken by floodwaters during the height of the storm.
A plastics factory in Erwin said Monday that multiple employees are missing or dead.
“We are devastated by the tragic loss of great employees,” Gerald O’Connor, founder of Impact Plastics, said in a news release. “Those who are missing or deceased, and their families are in our thoughts and prayers.”
In South Carolina, nearly 600 state National Guard members are helping with search and recovery efforts. More than 200 people from South Carolina State Fire are conducting welfare checks, officials said Monday.
But as many families held on to hope as they waited for word about their family members and friends, others were beginning to grieve.
Kevin Burch said his daughter is believed to have drowned. Rachel Burch, 37, was the youngest of nine people reported to have died in Pinellas County, Florida. The rescue effort in the state has ended, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday.
“The building didn’t sustain that much damage, from what I understand,” Kevin Burch said. “It’s just that the water surge came in and caught everybody off-guard.”
He said his daughter, whose parents remembered her as a kind-hearted and giving person in separate interviews, had spent much of her life in Florida. He said she was no stranger to hurricanes and knew how severe they could be, so it was unclear why she hadn’t evacuated ahead of Helene.
“It was always her goal to live in Florida,” he said. “It’s just unfortunate she wasn’t able to live out that goal for long.”