AccuWeather's Bill Wadell reports that relief helicopters are delivering supplies to residents trapped by severe flooding in western North Carolina on Sept. 30.
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00:00All right, some of the communities hit hardest by flooding in Western North
00:04Carolina can only be reached by helicopter. At Greathers, Bill Waddell is
00:10live for us this morning in Asheville. And Bill, you met volunteers who are
00:14bringing in help from above. Yeah, that's right. Ari Bernie. Good morning
00:19to you. We've been meeting people who tell us that they saw the videos and
00:23pictures on social media of the catastrophic flooding of all of this
00:27as well as other people who tell us they have loved ones have been trapped
00:31up on those mountains. They haven't heard from them in days. They tell us
00:34they couldn't sit back and wait. They pulled together and they organized
00:37helicopter relief missions on their own. Now, up in the mountains of Swannanoa,
00:42not far from here, we actually saw search and rescue crews still out
00:46yesterday, right before sunset, searching the riverbanks. The force of
00:50the floodwaters racing down the mountains carried literal tons of rocks
00:55and mud, flipping vehicles, pushing homes right off of their foundations.
01:00Some homes and businesses closest to the river's edge crumbled and washed
01:04away. There has been a flurry of helicopters in the air, and many are
01:08privately owned. Adam Smith is helping to organize this mission with loved
01:13ones trapped in remote communities. People are using social media to
01:16organize these helicopter flights, bringing in critical supplies and
01:19relief and then flying out those who are hurt or desperately need to get out.
01:26I really appreciate everything they've done because we really needed the
01:30water. So that's really been great. I know a lot of people's out there
01:33trying to help. So and I appreciate it all. It was awful. I was a nervous
01:40wreck. It's been rough, but we're managing. So finally, we're getting
01:44some water that we can do.
01:49Now you're hearing from a woman who finally got a delivery of freshwater up
01:53in a black mountain at a distribution site, and you'll be hearing from Adam
01:57Smith and some of the others involved with these helicopter rescue missions
02:00later on throughout the day right here on AccuWeather. But again, back here
02:04live in the Asheville area, just tough to see even the damage here. Guys, the
02:08power of the water. You could see these rivers and creeks usually very quiet,
02:13pretty calm. Look how high this debris is well over my head. The force of
02:17this water flipping tractor trailers, um, like toys and cars all over the
02:22place. And unfortunately, the search continues this morning as people try to
02:26track down who's missing and who's unaccounted for. And Bill, oftentimes
02:30when we're looking at flooding and river flooding and stream flooding,
02:33it's very localized to where the streams and rivers are located. It
02:37appears and you can tell me if I'm wrong that this is very widespread with
02:42lots of areas, uh, that were were not left untouched.
02:48Absolutely. Yeah, those streams, creeks, rivers, basically everything
02:53running down off of these mountains in western North Carolina in the
02:57surrounding region has been impacted. We Bernie, we have not passed by a
03:01streamer Creek that has not caused substantial issues and damage here. And
03:05again, Helene had a lot of rough impacts with the rain and wind, but
03:09really what amplified this days and days of torrential rain before Helene even
03:14arrives. Yeah, Bill, we'll do exactly right. That rain started Tuesday night,
03:19Wednesday and then accelerated Thursday into Friday. Bill Waddell from Asheville,
03:24North Carolina this morning.