Photos and videos captured the "biblical devastation" in Asheville, North Carolina as residents scramble to find resources after flooding and power outages caused gas and water shortages.
Roads were submerged, vehicles and homes were destroyed and residents were left to pick up the pieces left by Helene, which drenched the area with torrential rain late last week after making landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in Florida.
"Tropical Storm Helene severely damaged the production and distribution system of the City of Asheville’s water system," the City of Asheville announced in a statement on Saturday. "Extensive repairs are required to treatment facilities, underground and aboveground water pipes, and to roads that have washed away which are preventing water personnel from accessing parts of the system."
The city has since ordered food and water supplies, which will arrive in the next couple of days, according to a news release published on Sunday. But it asks those affected by the storm to "please be conservative and help your neighbors if possible."
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The city said an exact timeline is not clear, but it could take weeks before water service is fully restored.
“We just need water,” Julie Brown told the Asheville Citizen-Times, a part of the USA TODAY Network, on Sunday. “You got units that have four children using the bathroom.”
One of Brown's neighbors filled a garbage can with water from a creek close by, and she is using that water to flush her toilet.
The few who do have running water are asked to fill bathtubs and other available containers in case there is a loss of service.
A boil water advisory remains in effect for those with running water.
"No gas! Cash only! No gas!" could be heard shouted at the line that gathered outside of BJ's Food Mart at 9 a.m. Sunday morning.
Stores in the devastated area can only accept cash after the lack of power and spotty internet service made them unable to process payments with credit and debit cards.
Downtown, an hour-and-a-half-long line had formed at the Wells Fargo building ATM. Residents were piling in to get cash for groceries, water, and gas. Some were trying to get out of town and others just wanted enough cash for the coming days.
"We came downtown looking for gas," Stephan Amann, who lives in North Asheville with his partner, told the Asheville Citizen-Times. "We were in line for one of the gas stations on Merrimon, but they ran out before we got there, which was inconvenient."
The couple wanted to leave town, but could not find any other options.
"We've tried, but it looks like there's really nowhere to go," he said.
"We have biblical devastation through the county," said Ryan Cole, the assistant director of Buncombe County Emergency Services. "We’ve had biblical flooding here,” Cole said.
Early estimates project Helene to have caused somewhere between $15 billion and $100 billion.
Massive storms like Helene are expected to keep happening in the future, according to scientists who study Earth's climate and weather
"Natural disasters are natural disasters," said Ian Maki, an innkeeper in Cedar Key, Florida. "But these don’t feel natural anymore."
Contributing: N'dea Yancey-Bragg, Will Hofmann, Jorge L. Ortiz, Susan Miller, Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY; Keith Sharon, Jacob Biba, Sarah Honosky, Iris Seaton, Asheville Citizen Times
Julia is a trending reporter for USA TODAY. You can connect with her on LinkedIn, follow her on X, formerly Twitter, Instagram and TikTok: @juliamariegz, or email her at [email protected]
