In Buncombe County, a local state of emergency was declared Wednesday to help the cities of Asheville, Biltmore Forest, Weaverville, the Woodfin, Black Mountain and Montreat.

After making landfall in Florida on Thursday, Hurricane Helene continued north, bringing catastrophic flooding to western North Carolina and parts of South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Asheville,

Helene made landfall late Thursday night about 10 miles west of Perry, Florida, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). The storm was a Category 4 hurricane at the time,

The Southeast is grappling with widespread devastation after Helene made landfall Thursday as the strongest hurricane on record to slam into Florida’s Big Bend region and tore through multiple states,

FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said the flooding in western North Carolina was "historic" and teams are conducting search and rescue operations.

Federal and state officials are rushing to airlift supplies to battered mountain communities in western North Carolina, where the storm left behind damaged water systems, washed-out roads and downed power lines.