The death toll from powerful storm Helene jumped to at least 91 on Sunday, with one county in North Carolina alone reporting 30 deaths, authorities said, as rescuers battled to reach people in need across the southeastern United States.

The storm left a swathe of damage across several states, including Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, with high winds and torrential rain leaving some towns in ruins, roads flooded out and power cut off to millions.

“We’re hearing (of) significant infrastructure damage to water systems, communication, roads, critical transportation routes, as well as several homes that have been just destroyed by this,” the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Deanne Criswell, said Sunday.

“So this is going to be a really complicated recovery in each of these five states that have had these impacts,” she said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

At least 91 people were killed in the extreme weather — 37 in North Carolina, 25 in South Carolina, 17 in Georgia, 11 in Florida and one in Virginia, according to tallies from local authorities compiled by AFP.

“We have another devastating update. We now have 30 confirmed losses due to the storm,” Quentin Miller, the sheriff in North Carolina’s Buncombe County, which includes the tourist city of Asheville, told a briefing.

“We’re still conducting search operations and we know that those also may include recovery operations.”

Flash flood warnings remained in effect in parts of western North Carolina on Sunday, National Weather Service director Ken Graham said, adding that they were due to the risk of dam failures.

The weather was expected to ease in the affected areas by around Tuesday, he said.

Nearly 2.5 million households remained without power on Sunday, according to tracker poweroutage.us.

US Department of Energy official Matt Targuagno said that crews were working hard to restore electricity but warned it would be “a complex, multi-day response.”

Thousands of people continued to seek assistance in shelters run by the American Red Cross, organization official Jennifer Pipa said.

– Bridges washed away –

Helene blew into Florida’s northern Gulf shore as a huge Category Four hurricane with winds of 140 miles (225 kilometers) per hour.

Even as it weakened, it wreaked havoc.

US President Joe Biden said Sunday that one of his senior advisors was in Florida monitoring the situation.

North Carolina saw some of the worst of the flooding, with Governor Roy Cooper saying rescuers were being forced to airlift supplies in some areas due to damaged or flooded roads.

“I don’t know that anybody could be fully prepared for the amount of flooding and landslides that they are experiencing right now,” Criswell said on CBS, adding that more search and rescue teams were being deployed.

William Ray, director of the state’s emergency management department, warned that conditions were still extremely dangerous.

Hundreds of roads across the region remained closed, with several bridges washed away by floodwaters.

Four major interstate highways were closed across North Carolina and Tennessee, with “multiple” bridges still out, said Kristin White of the US Department of Transportation.

Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina each had more than 100 road closures, she added.

In the Georgia city of Valdosta, the storm ripped the roofs off buildings, and left road intersections a tangle of felled utility poles and trees.

“The wind started really hitting, like, felt branches and pieces of the roof hitting the side of the building and hitting the windows,” said Valdosta resident Steven Mauro.

“And then we were looking out and then literally this whole street, just everything went black.”

Republican former president and current candidate Donald Trump will visit Valdosta on Monday for a briefing on the disaster, his campaign said.

President Joe Biden, who has approved federal aid for several states in the wake of the disaster, intends to travel to hard-hit areas this week, “as soon as it will not disrupt emergency response operations,” the White House said Sunday.

He directed Criswell, the FEMA administrator, to “determine what more can be done to accelerate support to those who are having the most difficult time accessing assistance in isolated communities,” it said.

Millions of Americans were still without power and many faced torrential flooding on Saturday, authorities said, as powerful storm Helene rumbled across eastern and midwestern US states, leaving at least 44 people dead.

At least 19 people died in South Carolina, 15 in Georgia, seven in Florida, two in North Carolina and one in Virgina, according to updated reports from local authorities tallied by AFP.

Repair crews were already at work after Helene slammed into Florida late Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane and surged north, gradually weakening but leaving a path of rare devastation.

“Conditions will continue to improve today following the catastrophic flooding over the past two days,” said the National Weather Service.

But it warned of possible “long-duration power outages.”

Though power has been restored in some areas, more than three million customers were still without electricity across 10 states as of midday Saturday, according to tracker poweroutage.us.

‘Move to higher ground’

Helene originally slammed into Florida’s northern Gulf shore with powerful winds of 140 miles (225 kilometers) per hour. Even as a weakened post-tropical cyclone, it has caused destruction.

Record levels of flooding threatened to breach dams, with one dam in Tennessee on the verge of failure, authorities said, urging residents to move to higher ground.

Massive flooding was reported in Asheville, a city in western North Carolina. Governor Ray Cooper called it “one of the worst storms in modern history” to hit his state.

In Cedar Key, an island city of 700 people just off Florida’s northwest coast, the full destructive force of the hurricane was on view.

Several pastel-colored wooden homes were destroyed, victims of record storm surges and ferocious winds.

“I’ve lived here my whole life, and it breaks my heart to see it. We’ve not really been able to catch a break,” said Gabe Doty, a Cedar Key official, referring to two earlier hurricanes in the past year.

‘Gut punch’

In South Carolina the dead included two firefighters and six residents of Spartanburg County, officials said.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp’s office confirmed 15 deaths in his state, including an emergency responder.

Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida said the damage from Helene exceeded that of hurricanes Idalia and Debby, which both hit the same region southeast of Tallahassee in the last 13 months.

“It’s a real gut punch to those communities,” DeSantis told Fox News.

In the Tennessee town of Erwin, a dramatic rescue operation unfolded, as more than 50 patients and staff trapped on a hospital roof by surging floodwaters had to be rescued by helicopters.

Up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain was forecast in the Appalachian mountains, with isolated spots receiving 20 inches.

Remnants of the weakened storm were hovering at midday Saturday over the Kentucky-Indiana border, bringing up to 2 inches of rain.

‘Overwhelming’ damage

In a statement Saturday, President Joe Biden called Helene’s devastation “overwhelming.” He said he was sending additional response personnel as the storm tracks north.

Vice President Kamala Harris said the administration had already mobilized 1,500 personnel to support impacted communities.

September has been an unusually wet month around the world, with scientists linking some extreme weather events to human-caused global warming.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)