More than 1,000 people are reported missing in the devastated North Carolina county, where 10 people have already been confirmed dead after Hurricane Helene, officials said Sunday.
Buncombe County officials reported the horrific toll at an emergency meeting, announcing emergency medical shelters and ongoing rescue efforts in areas nearly submerged by stormwater.
They also announced a special website to appeal for help in finding unaccounted people – “over 1,000 reports so far,” a local official told a live-streamed meeting.
“We’re doing the best we can,” Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller said of a situation where broken roads, failing infrastructure and widespread flooding made it almost impossible to reach stranded people.
Officials said many of the missing are expected to be people without power and trying to let loved ones know they are safe.
However, the county, home to Asheville, already has 10 of the Tar Heel State’s 11 confirmed deaths — a terrifying toll expected to rise soon, Governor Roy Cooper acknowledged.
“We know there will be more,” he said Sunday.
North Carolina Adjutant General Todd Hunt said emergency response teams have rescued more than 40 people, including an infant, in the Asheville area due to a combination of 911 calls and appeals for help on social media.
Vital supplies are being airlifted to stranded communities as crews struggle to clear roads and restore communication lines.
As of Sunday afternoon, Helen has killed at least 60 people and left millions without power since the storm struck Florida on Thursday.
“It’s been almost 24 hours since we last heard from our parents,” Katie Patt of Fairfax, Virginia, posted on X. The Spruce Pine/Burnsville area of WNC is devastated by the storm. I believe that cellular service has been deeply impacted. I also agree that there is probably emergency information. I haven’t seen it yet.”
In Texas, Jessica Dry Turner begged for someone to rescue her family members trapped on their roof in Asheville surrounded by rising flood waters. “They’re seeing 18 wheelers and cars floating by,” Turner wrote in an urgent Facebook post Friday.
But in a follow-up message, which circulated widely on social media on Saturday, Turner said help had not arrived in time to save her 70-year-old parents and her six-year-old nephew. The roof had collapsed and all three drowned.
“I cannot put into words the grief, heartbreak and devastation that my sisters and I are going through, nor can I imagine the pain that lies ahead,” she wrote.
with post wires
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