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Emergency responders have resorted to using mule trains to deliver supplies and aid in North Carolina’s mountainous western areas, where mudslides and raging waters brought by the remnants of Hurricane Helene washed away roads this weekend.
Asheville, a haven for artists in the Blue Ridge Mountains, has been cut off from nearly all forms of conventional transportation and communication. But Mountain Mule Packers, who describe themselves as “extreme terrain pack animal supply trains,” are going where planes, trains and automobiles cannot.
“We will be getting supplies at Tractor Supply, and then heading out there, also looking to assess the situation and possibly going to Black Mountain as well,” the group said in a public message on their phone answering service, noting that they’ve been overcome by requests for relief.
Originally based in the Sierra Nevadas, the mule packers are now headquartered in the hills of North Carolina, where they conduct military training for hauling ammunition. Now they’re delivering aid to neighbors left stranded without water and cellphone service.
Helene, which made landfall Friday in Florida’s Big Bend area, left a watery path of destruction as it wended its way northward toward the Carolinas as a tropical depression. The storm’s death toll rose to at least 120 people in six states on Monday, with more than 600 people missing and thousands without power.
President Biden on Monday told southern governors the federal government will do everything it can for as long as it takes to help the Southeast and Appalachia recover from a “history-making” storm.
“I want them to know, we’re not leaving until the job is done,” Mr. Biden said at the White House.
Mr. Biden said he spoke to North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and other leaders impacted by Helene. He planned to visit impacted areas as “soon as possible,” but said it would be disruptive if he did it now.
“I expect to be down there by Wednesday or Thursday,” the president said.
Mr. Biden declined to say whether former President Donald Trump’s presence in Georgia on Monday would be disruptive. Mr. Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, planned to address the storm recovery in Valdosta.
Vice President Kamala Harris cut short a Western campaign to return to Washington on Monday for a briefing on the storm response.
Mr. Biden said he will ask Congress for supplemental funding to help recovery efforts. Lawmakers are on recess until November, and Mr. Biden said he “may” consider asking Congress to return to deliver storm-recovery funding.
SEE ALSO: Trump arrives in Georgia to survey storm damage, questions Biden-Harris response
In Georgia, Mr. Kemp said Monday during a news conference that the death toll in his state had risen from 17 to 25.
More than half of Helene’s fatalities have been reported in the Carolinas. North Carolina’s Buncombe County, which includes the city of Asheville, reported at least 35 people killed there.
Mr. Cooper predicted that his state’s death toll would rise as rescuers and other emergency workers reached areas isolated by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure and widespread flooding.
“Devastation does not even begin to describe how we feel,” Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller said during a news conference.
Overnight shelters have been at capacity, drinkable water has been scarce and misinformation has been a problem, county officials said.
At Mountain Valley Water in West Asheville, people waited in a line for water for more than a block, The Associated Press reported.
Some had milk jugs or in the case of Derek Farmer, three glass gallon-sized apple juice containers. The business was selling water — cash only and writing invoices on what looked like an ancient pad — just outside their fenced-in lot.
Mr. Farmer has lived in Asheville for more than two decades. As a veteran of a flood in 2004, he was ready. But Day Three without water had him nervous to get more.
Fortunately, the community has kicked in where the government has not. Bill Wadell of Accuweather posted on X that volunteers and strangers are coming together with privately owned helicopters to bring emergency supplies in, and help people get out of the hardest-hit communities in western North Carolina.
Stephanie Kraus, who lives with her husband in Roan Mountain, Tennessee — a mountain community bordering North Carolina — told The Washington Times that she has been “pleasantly surprised” by the way her neighbors haven’t waited around for outside help.
“Citizens are just taking it upon themselves to clear the roads instead of waiting for FEMA or the state or the county. It’s amazing what we can do with a chainsaw and some effort,” she said. “We can do a lot for ourselves when we all join forces and work together.”
Ms. Kraus said the situation, though difficult, has allowed for opportunity to contribute in a way little else can.
“It’s really a beautiful thing to behold,” she added. “[It’s ] something we don’t ordinarily experience until a disaster occurs.”
And Mountain Mule Packers said on their Facebook page that they have been so “overwhelmed with the amount of support and encouragement” since they announced their plans.
Still, Mr. Wadell of Accuweather said “donations are needed for the cost of fuel, food, bottled water, and emergency supplies.”
CrowdSource Rescue, a Texas-based disaster-aid nonprofit helping with relief efforts in North Carolina, said they’re in “desperate need” of more local volunteers for “wellness checks and supply drops in inaccessible areas.”
“If you have a 4x4, reasonable self-sufficiency, and can help tomorrow, please reach out,” the group posted on X.
• Tom Howell Jr. contributed to this story, which is based in part on wire service reports.
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