Hurricane Helene has devastated parts of the southeastern United States.
The death toll for Hurricane Helene is still rising, but now over 200 people have been killed by the massive Category 4 storm.
While a number of states in the southeast were hit by the storm, North Carolina seems particularly impacted.
Asheville, North Carolina was destroyed by mudslides and rivers of water.
Barbara George is a volunteer with the Red Cross based in Surrey County, North Carolina.
“A lot of homes have fallen down the hill into the river and floated away with the winds that were happening. Lot of the houses were blown apart. Lot of people, unfortunately, a lot of people were not able to get away from the disaster,” she said.
She said that they're in emergency response mode.
“We're trying to look back and clean up what's there and try to discover, unfortunately, the number of people that are still missing or lost. That, of course, the death toll is rising every day because people are coming. You know that people wash downstream, wash off the hills,” said George.
She said people are confused, disoriented, depressed, and don’t know what the future will look like.
“There's so much that's gone that'll never come back,” she said.
She said the Red Cross has set up large shelters with food, clothing, cots and rooms for disabled people.
“In a lot of cases, we have the emotional support on the scene, we have people who are willing to work with them to try to find them a place to stay. We do a little bit of everything to try to keep these people comfortable and try to keep their distress away from them,” she explained.
She said the biggest thing people in the Northwoods can do is donate money to the Red Cross.
George explained the shelters don’t have the capacity for donated food, water or clothing, but that they’re working with other agencies on the ground.
“We don't have the manpower in these shelters to even receive that stuff or a place to put it. We are dealing with emotional people. We need to keep our people on target as far as helping the survivors of this disaster,” she said.
She said if you can’t offer money, prayers are desperately needed.
Blue Ridge Public Radio compiled a list of additional organizations in Western North Carolina also providing hurricane relief.
