“My parents live in an absolute gem of the North Carolina mountains,” Perkins said in a post about about his experience. The area is about an hour’s drive from Asheville. “Under normal circumstances, it’s pleasantly very isolated,” he ...

At least 30 people have died in the area around Asheville, North Carolina. “Those communities no longer resemble what they were a week ago,” one official said.

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.