America News Agency

As first responders struggled to reach stranded communities in difficult conditions, local authorities began assessing the extent of damage and displacement.

“It looks like a bomb went off,” Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said after surveying the damage from the air on Saturday.

“To say this caught us off guard is an understatement,” said Quentin Miller, sheriff of Buncombe County, North Carolina, where parts of Asheville were flooded. Numerous cell towers were knocked out, disrupting rescue and recovery efforts. Emergency services refused to confirm the death toll in the county until communications were restored and relatives were notified.
 
Joe Biden said in a statement on Saturday that Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) head Deanna Criswell and other state and local officials were travelling in the southeast to assess the damage.

Helene made landfall late Thursday as a category four hurricane in Florida's Big Bend region, battering the peninsula with winds of 140 miles per hour (225 km/h). Weakening to a tropical storm, the hurricane raced through Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee, uprooting trees, blowing roofs off homes, dragging cars, testing dams and overflowing rivers - leaving entire communities without escape due to landslides and flooding.

The combination of high winds, heavy rain, flooding, and tornadoes that followed Helene's path destroyed thousands of dollars, entire city centres, highways, and numerous homes and businesses.