North Carolina devasatation as Hurricane Helene claims 116 lives

Massive storm Helene has left a trail of devastation across six states in the south-east US, destroying communities and claiming more than 116 lives.

The mountainous region of western North Carolina has seen homes and bridge washed away, villages flattened and the tourist town of Asheville cut off.

Rescuers are focusing their efforts on reaching those communities on Monday but recovery is proving difficult with so many roads impassable.

The death toll is expected to rise as dozens of search teams continue recovery efforts and relatives search for missing loved ones.

The rescues are complicated by the terrain and isolated nature of the mountain cities in North Carolina, where many roads remain closed from damage and flooding.

“The mountains in North Carolina are beautiful, but there is a lot of rugged terrain on a sunny, beautiful day,” North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper told CNN on Monday morning.

Many communities were completely cut off, he said.

Cooper urged people to stay off the roads and to allow rescuers to be able to reach people.

Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder said on Sunday that rescuers were working to ensure people in Asheville had emergency supplies on Monday.

“We hear you. We need food and we need water,” she said on a Sunday call with reporters, according to the Associated Press. “My staff has been making every request possible to the state for support.”

Helene began as a hurricane – the most powerful on record to hit Florida’s Big Bend, before moving toward Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee.

The majority of deaths have been confirmed in North and South Carolina where Helene travelled through as a tropical storm.

The state of North Carolina has recorded at least 46 deaths, while the storm has claimed at least 27 lives in neighbouring South Carolina, according to the BBC’s US partner CBS News.

The North Carolina National Guard has rescued more than 119 people, including one infant, according to Major General Todd Hunt. The largest rescue involved 41 people north of Asheville, he said.

At least 30 people have died in Buncombe County alone, officials said on Sunday night. Around 1,000 people are still unaccounted for in the county, where relatives are searching for loved ones without cell phone service and electricity in some cases.

As of Monday morning, 500,000 people remained without power in both North Carolina and Georgia as well as 750,000 in South Carolina, according to poweroutage.us.

The American Red Cross has opened more than 140 shelters for those in south-eastern states who evacuated their homes. More than 2,000 people are currently using the shelters, the organisation said on Sunday.

Cooper has warned that Helene has brought damage of “historic proportions” in North Carolina.

Recovery from the storm is estimated to cost between $95bn and $110bn (£71bn-£82bn) nationwide.

The remnants of Hurricane Helene are expected to move into the mid-Atlantic on Monday.

But more storms could be on the horizon, officials have warned, as the official end of hurricane season is not until 30 November.