‘We lost just about everything we owned’: Survivors shoulder catastrophic loss and destruction after Helene leaves 213 dead

(CNN) — More than a week has passed since Helene rammed into Florida’s Gulf Coast as a major hurricane and began slicing what would become a deep scar of loss and destruction clear to Virginia, killing at least 213 people and obliterating countless homes, businesses and lifetimes worth of precious belongings.

Searches for missing loved ones grow more desperate each day as officials say hundreds are unaccounted for. Rescue crews are hindered by cell service outages and ruined roads and bridges as federal officials warn money to help people get back on their feet is tenuous with 57 days still left in the official hurricane season.

While stories of resilience keep emerging – like a woman rescued last Friday from waist-deep flooding by a wedding party – people also since then have reported hiking hours to check on trapped loved ones and scouring river banks for those swept away. In North Carolina’s Buncombe County, home to Asheville, more than 200 people were unaccounted for as of Thursday, with 72 people found dead, the county sheriff said.

The scope of destruction has become clearer as people slowly have regained access to neighborhoods, often only to find their homes in tatters or washed away completely.

A couple in Swannanoa, North Carolina, barely escaped last week as a flood transformed their neighborhood into a river, gushed into their home and pulled their truck down the street, they said. They returned to find the contents of their house had been upended and caked in mud, nearly everything destroyed.

“We lost just about everything we owned, and that included vehicles,” Joe Dancy told CNN’s Laura Coates on Thursday night. “But we have the most important thing: our lives. And we are forever and always going to be thankful for that.”

Helene has become the deadliest hurricane to hit the United States mainland since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the death toll has climbed daily. North Carolina has the most reported deaths with 106, followed by 41 in South Carolina, 33 in Georgia, 20 in Florida, 11 in Tennessee and two in Virginia, CNN finds.

A massive relief effort is underway across the region to restore shredded power grids and rebuild damaged water and cell infrastructure. Transportation infrastructure across the region also has suffered “unprecedented damage” after Helene ripped up and washed out roads and blasted through bridges, Polly Trottenberg, deputy secretary of the US Transportation Department, said Thursday.

Hundreds of roads remain closed, hampering efforts to send aid to hard-hit communities. And for those who left before Helene, the closures have delayed their return to check on family, friends and the state of their homes. Some areas are so inaccessible supplies are being delivered by mule and air.

Power has been restored to more than 3.3 million homes and businesses, FEMA’s director of individual assistance, Frank Matranga, said Thursday. More than 700,000 energy customers still were in the dark Friday morning, according to PowerOutage.us.

“We know that for many families, the road to recovery starts with getting the lights back on and reconnecting with loved ones,” Matranga said. “Restoring power and communication isn’t just about making things more comfortable; it’s about keeping people safe, informed and able to access the services they need.”

Cell service is also being slowly restored, with less than 50% of cell sites still down on Thursday, he added. Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service, announced it will provide free service for 30 days in regions affected by Helene.

Bathing and washing dishes has also become a luxury in places where potable water is in short supply. In Buncombe County, residents get drinking water from tanker trucks and shipments of bottled water, but it’s scarce for other daily activities. And in parts of Tennessee, damage to water treatment and sewage facilities has prompted officials to ask residents to save non-essential water and boil their drinking water.

An influx of federal resources and personnel has bolstered recovery efforts. Nearly 7,000 National Guard members have been activated, participating in high-water rescues, debris clearance, search and rescue and supplies distribution. In North Carolina, guard members have been dropping in supplies from the air and airlifting people and pets to safety.

FEMA funds are in short supply

FEMA has enough money to provide immediate disaster aid in the wake of Helene, an agency spokesperson said. But with a long road to recovery ahead – and more hurricanes possible this season – the agency may find itself digging to the bottom of its wallet.

“FEMA has what it needs for immediate response and recovery efforts,” FEMA spokesperson Jaclyn Rothenberg posted on X Thursday, adding, “But we’re not out of hurricane season yet so we need to keep a close eye on it.”

The assessment comes after Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters Wednesday that with another hurricane expected to hit sometime in the coming months, “We do not have the funds. FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season.”

So far, FEMA has provided more than $20 million in assistance to people impacted by Helene, Matranga said Thursday.

President Joe Biden this week suggested he may request that Congress reconvene during its October recess to pass emergency supplemental funding for storm recovery efforts. “It can’t wait. It can’t wait. People need help now,” Biden said Thursday when asked about the timeline he would like to see.

Local business owners could bear the brunt of funding shortages. Coffers for the Small Business Administration’s disaster relief programs, which were supplemented in the wake of the Maui fires in 2023, are nearly empty.

The White House last month warned that a short-term government funding bill led by Republicans failed to increase funding for the SBA, suggesting the agency’s disaster loan program, which provides low-interest lifelines of up to $2 million, would be “effectively ceasing operations” due to a lack of funding.

Wedding rehearsal became a water rescue

As Helene passed through, neighbors and onlookers jumped into action to help one another.

What started as preparations for a wedding rehearsal in Grassy Creek, North Carolina, last Friday quickly turned into a water rescue when Eddie Hunnell, the father of the groom, heard a woman had become trapped in her home near the River House Inn.

Hunnell asked the owner of the inn for a life jacket, rope and an oar, he told CNN. After rushing outside, he encountered the woman’s husband, Phil Worth, who explained his wife, Leslie, was stuck in their house and couldn’t get out.

Hunnell and Worth grabbed a canoe and tried to reach Leslie but couldn’t.

“We were trying to figure out how to get her out, and we were running out of ideas,” Hunnell said. “I was pretty confident the house was going to eventually collapse, and my biggest concern was that it would collapse on Leslie.”

Eventually, the wedding party noticed the roof of another house floating downstream toward the Worth home. The roof debris struck the home where Leslie was trapped, video provided by the Hunnell family shows.

Soon, her home began to tilt under the force of the floodwater, and a chunk of the house detached.

“Leslie was right there, standing in it, waist deep in water,” Hunnell said.

Everyone began yelling at her to jump.

“I hopped in the canoe to try to get to her. I couldn’t maneuver it well enough. The water was too fast, and the wind was blowing too much,” Hunnell said.

“So, I jumped in and started swimming to her,” he said. “I‘d been looking for 30 minutes for a solution, and I didn’t have one. So, I was out of ideas, and I just thought my wife’s going to kill me, and I jumped.”

Hunnell made it to Leslie, grabbed the back of her life vest and instructed her to kick as hard as she could toward the shore, he said. The two eventually got dumped into slower waters and swam ashore.

Those waiting on shore broke out into tears as the pair made it back to land safely.

Despite the chaotic afternoon, Hunnell invited the Worths to the wedding rehearsal dinner.

“They came in the clothes they had on. I think we actually got Leslie some clothes, and I think we got Phil some pants,” he said.

The next day the wedding carried on with about half the guest list and no power – lit by more than 100 candles. Neighbors used chainsaws to clear roadways.

“The wedding turned out great,” Hunnell said. “Everything before the wedding was somewhat of a disaster.”

CNN’s Kayla Tausche, Sam Fossum, Haley Talbot, Sara Smart, Emma Tucker, Andy Rose and Steve Almasy contributed to this report.

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