PERRY, Fla. (AP) — Authorities have struggled to get water and other supplies to remote, flood-hit areas of the southeastern U.S. in the wake of the disaster Hurricane Helene than that Death toll rose from the storm.

A North Carolina county that includes: Mountain town of Asheville reported that 30 people were killed by the storm, bringing the total death toll in several states to at least 84 people.

Supplies were airlifted to the region around the isolated city. Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder promised she would bring food and water to Ashville — known for its art, culture and natural attractions — by Monday.

“We hear you. We need food and we need water,” Pinder said in a Sunday call with reporters. “My staff has made every possible request for assistance to the state and we have worked with every single organization that has contacted us. I promise you that we are very close.”

Officials warned that rebuilding would be long and difficult after widespread loss of homes and property. The storm Life across the Southeast was turned upside down. Deaths have also been reported in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia.

North Carolina’s governor expects the death toll to rise as rescuers reach remote areas

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

He urged 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 parties spread across the entire region in search of stranded people.

41 people were saved in a rescue operation north of Asheville. Another mission focused on rescuing a single infant. Teams found people through both 911 calls and social media messages, said Todd Hunt, adjutant general for the North Carolina National Guard.

President Joe Biden described the storm’s impact as “breathtaking,” saying: he would visit them area this week as long as it does not affect rescue or recovery operations.

Hurricane Helene made landfall late Thursday in the Big Bend region of Florida as a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 140 mph (225 km/h). A weakened Helen moved quickly through Georgia and then inundated the Carolinas and Tennessee with torrential rains that flooded streams and rivers and overwhelmed dams.

There have been hundreds of water rescues, including in rural Unicoi County in East Tennessee, where Dozens of patients and employees were rescued by helicopter from the roof of a hospital on Friday.

Several million were still without power on Sunday afternoon. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster asked for patience as crews battled widespread broken utility poles.

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

I am asking for help in North Carolina as this help is slow to arrive

The storm triggered the worst flooding in North Carolina in a century. One community, Spruce Pine, was flooded with more than 2 feet (61 centimeters) of rain Tuesday through Saturday.

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

But in a follow-up message Saturday, Turner said help did not arrive 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 express in words the sadness, heartache and devastation my sisters and I are going through,” she wrote.

The state sent water supplies and other goods to Buncombe County and Asheville, but mudslides that blocked Interstate 40 and other highways prevented the supplies from getting there. The county’s own water supplies were located across the Swannanoa River, away from where most of Buncombe County’s 270,000 people live, officials said.

Law enforcement planned to send officers to locations where there was still water, food or gas because there were reports of arguments and threats of violence, the county sheriff said.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell traveled through southern Georgia on Sunday and planned to be in North Carolina on Monday.

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

Biden promised federal government help for Helene’s “overwhelming” devastation on Saturday. He also approved a disaster declaration for North Carolina and made federal funding available for affected individuals.

Storm-hit Florida is dug up and residents gather for church

In Florida’s Big Bend, some lost almost everything they owned. With shrines still dark Sunday morning, some churches canceled their regular services, while others, like Faith Baptist Church in Perry, opted to hold their services outdoors.

Standing water and tree debris still cover the grounds of Faith Baptist Church. In a message posted on the church’s Facebook page, the church called on parishioners to “pray for our community.”

“We have power. We have no electricity,” said Marie Ruttinger, a parishioner at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. “Our God has power. That’s for sure.”

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

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

A news release said trash and debris from the storm had “blocked our ability to pump water.” Officials handed out water bottles.

With at least 25 deaths 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 expects property damage to range from $15 billion to $26 billion.

Climate change has exacerbated conditions Allow such storms to thrivewhich intensifies quickly in warmer waters and sometimes turns into strong cyclones within hours.

Meteorologists say a new tropical depression in the Atlantic could become a powerful hurricane

A new tropical depression in the eastern Atlantic could develop into a “terrible hurricane” later this week, the National Hurricane Center said Sunday. The low-pressure area had winds of 35 miles per hour (55 km/h) and was located about 585 miles (945 kilometers) west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands, the center said. It could become a hurricane by Wednesday.

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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.