The city’s challenges, she said, included “catastrophic failures of our transportation system” due to washed-out roads, a severely damaged city water system and a need for basic supplies – diapers, baby formula, cleaning supplies, food, water – that must pass through the only available road in the city squeeze city.

“We have catastrophic failures of our transportation system across the city,” Manheimer said. “We were cut off from the world.”

She acknowledged the promises of immediate and long-term assistance from the federal and state governments.

Gov. Roy Cooper said in a statement last night that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had distributed one million bottles of water and 600,000 meals after Helene.

In a televised briefing, President Joe Biden acknowledged the devastation in western North Carolina and said 30 Starlink satellite receivers, which facilitate cell phone service, had been sent there and 10 more were on the way.

Manheimer said that when she spoke with the president today, he said he would ask Congress to authorize funding to rebuild parts of the city devastated by the storm, its floods and its winds.

At the same time, she seemed to still be processing Helene’s impact, suggesting that the people of Asheville were taking things one step at a time.

“The rivers reached heights never before reached,” the mayor said. “We have here… a catastrophic total loss. There is no electricity, no water and you just have to make sure people get by every day.”