Supplies rushed to communities isolated by Helene as death toll rises to nearly 100

PERRY, Fla. (AP) — North Carolina officials pledged to get more water and other supplies to flood-stricken areas by Monday after Hurricane Helene left a trail of destruction across the U.S. Southeast and the death toll from the storm rose to nearly 100.

At least 91 people across several states were killed. A North Carolina county that includes the mountain city of Asheville reported 30 people killed.

Gov. Roy Cooper predicted the toll would rise as rescuers and other emergency workers reached areas isolated by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure and widespread flooding.

Supplies were being airlifted to the region around the isolated city of Asheville. Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder pledged that she would have food and water to the city by Monday.

“We hear you. We need food and we need water,” Pinder said on a Sunday call with reporters. “My staff has been making every request possible to the state for support and we’ve been working with every single organization that has reached out. What I promise you is that we are very close.”

Officials warned that rebuilding from the widespread loss of homes and property would be lengthy and difficult. The storm upended life throughout the Southeast. Deaths also were reported in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia.

Cooper implored residents in western North Carolina to avoid travel, both for their own safety and to keep roads clear for emergency vehicles. More than 50 search teams spread throughout the region in search of stranded people.

One rescue effort involved saving 41 people north of Asheville. Another mission focused on saving a single infant. The teams found people through both 911 calls and social media messages, North Carolina National Guard Adjutant General Todd Hunt said.

President Joe Biden described the impact of the storm as “stunning” and said he would visit the area this week as long as it does not disrupt rescues or recovery work. In a brief exchange with reporters, he said the administration is giving states “everything we have” to help with their response to the storm.

Hurricane Helene roared ashore late Thursday in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph (225 kph) winds. A weakened Helene quickly moved through Georgia, then soaked the Carolinas and Tennessee with torrential rains that flooded creeks and rivers and strained dams.

There have been hundreds of water rescues, including in rural Unicoi County in East Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were plucked by helicopter from a hospital rooftop Friday.

More than 2 million homeowners and other utility customers were still without power Sunday night. South Carolina had the most outages and Gov. Henry McMaster asked for patience as crews dealt with widespread snapped power poles.

“We want people to remain calm. Help is on the way, it is just going to take time,” McMaster told reporters outside the airport in Aiken County.

The storm unleashed the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina. One community, Spruce Pine, was doused with over 2 feet (61 centimeters) of rain from Tuesday through Saturday.

Jessica Drye Turner in Texas had begged for someone to rescue her family members stranded on their rooftop in Asheville amid rising floodwaters. “They are watching 18-wheelers and cars floating by,” Turner wrote in an urgent Facebook post on Friday.

But in a follow-up message Saturday, Turner said help had not arrived in time to save her parents, both in their 70s, and her 6-year-old nephew. The roof collapsed and the three drowned.

“I cannot convey in words the sorrow, heartbreak and devastation my sisters and I are going through,” she wrote.

The state was sending water supplies and other items toward Buncombe County and Asheville, but mudslides blocking Interstate 40 and other highways prevented supplies from making it. The county’s own water supplies were on the other side of the Swannanoa River, away from where most of the 270,000 people in Buncombe County live, officials said.

Law enforcement was making plans to send officers to places that still had water, food or gas because of reports of arguments and threats of violence, the county sheriff said.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell toured south Georgia on Sunday and planned to be in North Carolina Monday.

“It’s still very much an active search and rescue mission” in western North Carolina, Criswell said. “And we know that there’s many communities that are cut off just because of the geography” of the mountains, where damage to roads and bridges have cut off certain areas.

Biden on Saturday pledged federal government help for Helene's “overwhelming” devastation. He also approved a disaster declaration for North Carolina, making federal funding available for affected individuals.

In Florida's Big Bend, some lost nearly everything they own. With sanctuaries still darkened as of Sunday morning, some churches canceled regular services while others like Faith Baptist Church in Perry opted to worship outside.

Standing water and tree debris still covers the grounds of Faith Baptist Church. The church called on parishioners to come “pray for our community” in a message posted to the congregation’s Facebook page.

“We have power. We don’t have electricity,” Immaculate Conception Catholic Church parishioner Marie Ruttinger said. “Our God has power. That’s for sure.”

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said Saturday that it looked “like a bomb went off” after viewing splintered homes and debris-covered highways from the air.

In eastern Georgia near the border with South Carolina, officials notified Augusta residents Sunday morning that water service would be shut off for 24 to 48 hours in the city and surrounding Richmond County.

A news release said trash and debris from the storm “blocked our ability to pump water.” Officials were distributing bottled water.

With at least 25 killed in South Carolina, Helene was the deadliest tropical cyclone for the state since Hurricane Hugo made landfall north of Charleston in 1989, killing 35 people.

Moody’s Analytics said it expects $15 billion to $26 billion in property damage.

Climate change has exacerbated conditions that allow such storms to thrive, rapidly intensifying in warming waters and turning into powerful cyclones sometimes within hours.

A new tropical depression in the eastern Atlantic Ocean could become a “formidable hurricane” later this week, the National Hurricane Center said Sunday. The depression had sustained 35 mph (55 kph) winds and was located about 630 miles (1,015 kilometers) west-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands, the center said. It could become a hurricane by Wednesday.

Whittle reported from Portland, Maine, and Collins reported from Columbia, South Carolina. Haya Panjwani in Washington, Kate Brumback in Atlanta and Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana, contributed.

Crews work to clean up the tons of sand and debris pushed onto Gulf Boulevard from Hurricane Helene storm surge, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Madeira Beach, Fla. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via AP)

The sun shines through a hole in a building after storm surge from Hurricane Helene sent tons of sand into homes, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Madeira Beach, Fla. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via AP)

A home completely destroyed by fire due to Hurricane Helene is pictured on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Madeira Beach, Fla. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via AP)

An aerial view of flood damage along the Pigeon River left by Hurricane Helene, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Newport, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

A barrier blocks a flooded Carbon City Road due to the torrential rain from Hurricane Helene , Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024 in downtown Morganton, N.C. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

After waiting on long lines to fill up their gas tanks at the Sheetz station, people were also filling up containers of gas for their generators after Hurricane Helene caused power outages, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Morganton, N.C. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

A Dominion Energy lineman works on a power line in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024, in North Augusta, S.C. (AP Photo/Artie Walker Jr.)

Residents wait in line with gas cans at a Gas Plus gas station in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024, in North Augusta, S.C. (AP Photo/Artie Walker Jr.)

Daniel Dickert walks to plant an American flag on is property were his boat shed was destroyed and his home damaged in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Jena, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Residents wait in long lines for gas at Parker's Kitchen in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024, in Aiken, S.C. (AP Photo/Artie Walker Jr.)

Jose Salazar dumps debris as he helps gut a property that took on a storm surge in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Steinhatchee, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

A passerby checks the water depth of a flooded road, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Morganton, N.C. Torrential rain from Hurricane Helene left many area streets flooded. In addition, traffic lights are inoperable due to no power, with downed power lines and trees. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

A vehicle sits outside of its garage after storm surge from Hurricane Helene, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Madeira Beach, Fla. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via AP)

Chris Jordan, maintenance manager for Horseshoe Beach, tries to find a water shutoff valve amid the rubble of the destroyed city hall in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The Riverside RV park was flooded from the overflowing Catawba River after torrential rain from Hurricane Helene, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Morganton, N.C. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

Workers clean up a dock where a boat shed was destroyed in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Jena, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

A tattered American flag hangs on a rope on a now closed road in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Jena, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

An uprooted tree landed on a pickup truck in front of a home on East Main Street after Hurricane Helene, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Glen Alpine, N.C. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

Workers clean and gut a property that was flooded from the storm surge, in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Steinhatchee, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

A stop sign can be barely seen above a flooded parking lot after torrential rain from Hurricane Helene caused severe flooding, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Morganton, N.C. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

This aerial drone view shows damaged homes and a vehicle collapsed into water after storm surge from Hurricane Helene, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Madeira Beach, Fla. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via AP)

An Israeli airstrike hit an apartment in a multistory building in central Beirut, killing three Palestinian militants, as Hezbollah's acting leader promised the group will fight on following the death of its long-time head Hassan Nasrallah.

The early Monday airstrike — the first to hit central Beirut in nearly a year of conflict — killed three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small, leftist faction. Videos showed ambulances and a crowd gathered near the building in a mainly Sunni district with a busy thoroughfare lined with shops.

Separately, an Israeli airstrike early Monday killed six people, including two sisters and a child, in central Gaza, Palestinian officials said.

In the past week, Israel has frequently targeted Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence — including a major strike on Friday that killed Nasrallah — but had not hit locations near the city center.

Hezbollah's acting leader Naim Kassem said in a televised statement that if Israel decides to launch a ground offensive, the group’s fighters are ready — noting that the commanders killed have already been replaced.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said at least 105 people were killed around the country in airstrikes on Sunday. Two strikes near the southern city of Sidon, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) south of Beirut, killed at least 32 people, the ministry said. Separately, Israeli strikes in the northern province of Baalbek Hermel killed 21 people and wounded at least 47.

Lebanese media reported dozens of strikes in the central, eastern and western Bekaa and in the south, besides strikes on Beirut. Israel says it targets militants, but the strikes have hit buildings where civilians were living and the death toll was expected to rise.

Here is the latest:

TEL AVIV — Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday hinted at Israeli preparations for a ground offensive in Lebanon.

Speaking to troops of the 188 Armored brigade and the Golani Infantry brigade on the northern border, Gallant said, “The elimination of Nasrallah is a very important step, but it is not everything. We will use all the capabilities we have.”

He added, “If someone on the other side did not understand what the capabilities mean, it is all capabilities, and you are part of this effort.”

Israeli airstrike kills 6 people, including 2 sisters and a child, in Gaza

DEIR -AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinian medical officials say an Israeli airstrike killed six people, including two sisters and a child, in central Gaza.

The strike early Monday hit a family home in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp, according to the Awda hospital, where the casualties were taken.

The dead include a man, his two daughters and a grandchild, according to the hospital records.

Earlier on Monday, an Israeli strike hit a house in the central town of Deir al-Balah, killing two children and their parents.

Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian casualties on Hamas because the militant group operates in residential areas. The military rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says at least 41,615 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war. It does not distinguish between militants and civilians but says women and children make up a little more than half of the fatalities.

The war began on Oct. 7, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim they shot down another American-made MQ-9 Reaper drone over the country, with videos purportedly showing a surface-to-air missile striking it. The U.S. military did not immediately acknowledge losing any aircraft.

The claimed attack comes as the one-year anniversary of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip approaches. The Houthis have targeted ships traveling through the Red Sea over the war as U.S.-led airstrikes pound their positions in Yemen. That’s imperiled a waterway that typically sees $1 trillion of trade pass through it, as well as crucial shipments of aid to war-torn Sudan and Yemen.

The Houthis also continue to launch missiles targeting Israel, drawing retaliatory airstrikes from the Israelis this weekend on the port city of Hodeida.

The Houthi-run broadcaster Al-Masirah claimed shooting down the MQ-9, hours after video footage circulated online showing the purported missile striking the aircraft over Yemen’s Saada province. A single image online also appeared to show wreckage of the drone, with pieces resembling that of an MQ-9.

BEIRUT — Hezbollah’s deputy leader vowed to continue fighting Israel and said the militant group was prepared for a long war after much of its top command was wiped out, including its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

In his first speech since Nasrallah was killed, Naim Kassem said in a televised statement Monday that if Israel decides to launch a ground offensive, Hezbollah fighters are ready to fight and defend Lebanon.

As deputy secretary-general, Naim Kassem now is the acting leader of Hezbollah until a replacement for Nasrallah is chosen.

Kassem added that despite the killing of Hezbollah’s top military commanders over the past months, Hezbollah is relying on new commanders.

“Israel was not able to affect our (military) capabilities,” Kassem said. “There are deputy commanders and there are replacements in case a commander is wounded in any post.”

PARIS — France has delivered 12 tons of medical aid to Lebanon, including two mobile clinics that will be able to treat 1,000 seriously injured people currently in hospitals’ emergency wards across the country, according to a statement from the French Foreign Ministry on Monday.

French military aircraft also delivered critical supplies of medicine to Lebanese emergency, pediatric and general hospitals and clinics, which have been overwhelmed with thousands of injured people since Israel’s bombardment of the country began over a week ago.

During his visit to Beirut on Monday, France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said that Paris is also releasing 10 million euros ($11.1 million) in emergency humanitarian aid to support the work of local humanitarian organizations, particularly the Lebanese Red Cross.

“In the face of the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, France stands by Lebanon and remains committed to protecting civilians,” the statement said.

Barrot is scheduled to meet with Lebanese leaders on Monday, including with Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Army chief Joseph Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

BEIRUT — Lebanese officials have asked people who lost relatives in recent Israeli airstrikes to provide DNA samples to match with unidentified remains.

Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces on Monday called on residents across the country to visit police stations with an identity card to give their samples. It said more than one person from each family should provide a sample, if possible.

A wave of Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon have killed more than 1,030 people — including 156 women and 87 children — in less than two weeks, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Satellite images analyzed by The Associated Press show the site of the Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The images, taken Sunday by Planet Labs PBC, show the site just some 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) northeast of Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport.

The images show multi-story buildings at the site now cratered in the densely populated predominantly Shiite southern Beirut suburb known as Dahiyeh.

Israel said the Friday night strike targeted a meeting at an underground Hezbollah compound located beneath the towers and at least one empty lot at the site.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinian officials say an Israeli airstrike early Monday killed a family of four in central Gaza.

The strike hit a house in the central town of Deir al-Balah, according to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies.

The dead included two children and their parents, according to hospital records. An Associated Press reporter counted the bodies at the hospital morgue.

Israel says it only targets militants and accuses Hamas fighters of hiding among civilians, putting them in danger. It rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children.

The war began on Oct. 7, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians.

BEIRUT — The Palestinian militant group Hamas says one of its commanders has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon.

Fatah Sharif was killed early Monday in an airstrike on the Al-Buss refugee camp in the southern port city of Tyre, the group said in a statement. His wife, son and daughter were also killed in the strike, it said.

Sharif was a commander in Lebanon and a member of Hamas’ command outside the Palestinian territories, Hamas said.

Since the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, Israeli airstrikes have killed several Hamas officials in Lebanon.

This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows the site of an Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

A man passes by a damaged car where an Israeli airstrike hit a nearby building in Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Damaged apartments, right, are seen in a building that was hit by Israeli strike, in Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Damaged cars are parked in front of a building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Yemenis stand in front of a portrait of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

A large fire and plume of smoke is visible in the port city of Hodeida, Yemen, on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024, after Israeli strikes on the Houthi-controlled city. (AP Photo)

A Lebanese policeman looks at damaged apartments that were hit by Israeli strike early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

People look up at a damaged building that was hit by Israeli strike early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

People walk past damaged cars near a building hit by an Israeli airstrike early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Policemen and civil defense workers stand next to damaged cars near a building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Policemen and civil defense workers inspect a damaged car near a building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Women pass the damaged cars where an Israeli airstrike hit a building in Beirut early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A damaged apartment is seen on a building that was hit by Israeli strike, in Beirut early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Damages are seen on a building that was hit by Israeli strike, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A Lebanese soldier passes next to damaged cars where an Israeli airstrike hit a building in Beirut early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)