Caitlin Wilson
Live editor

Though it's now been days since Helene first made landfall in Florida as a category 4 hurricane before moving northward as a tropical storm, communities across the southeastern United States are still struggling with emergency conditions.

The storm has left more than 110 people dead, and according to the White House, there are 600 people are still unaccounted for as communications remain down and roads are unpassable.

We're ending our live coverage of the storm's aftermath for now, but you can read more of our coverage of first-hand accounts from people on the ground here: 'People are just scrambling' - North Carolina reels from devastating storm.

And take a look at the video above for views of the flooding and destruction from the air to get an idea of just how widespread the damage is.

Thank you for joining us.

Brandon Drenon
US reporter

Grayson Barnette lives in Morganton, a small mostly rural town in western North Carolina near some of the worst of Helene’s destruction.

"This was just unconscionable for a lot of people," he says. "It wasn’t that there was rain, it was the amount of rain that came so quickly."

"Living in the mountains, we're used to harsh winters," he continues. “But whenever you're getting flooded from a river that even on its worst day is not as bad as what we've seen – 20-foot floods taking out whole houses, taking out whole regions, taking out huge trees - there's different levels to the destruction."

In some areas, there are whole communities that are still cut off by the flooding.

"How do you get over the trees that have fallen in that area?"

"The issue is, we haven't heard from (people in the mountains), and we have no way to get to them," he says.

"Imagine the only road or the only trail to get to a place is suddenly wiped away. You have to find a whole new route."

President Joe Biden says he is "constant contact with governors, mayors and local leaders" responding to the hurricane, and has sent the head of Fema to the region to direct federal response efforts.

In a one-minute video, external posted on social media, Biden says the Fema chief Deanne Criswell will stay in "the Appalachian region for the foreseeable future".

Experts with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are also there to help re-establish communications capabilities.

He adds that US troops "are going to provide all the resources at its disposal to rescue and assist in clearing debris and delivering life-saving supplies".

He ends the short video telling people in the region to "take this seriously" and "stay safe".

There are now at least 40 storm-related deaths in Buncombe County, North Carolina.

A Buncombe County spokesperson confirmed the news in an update briefing.

The area is one of the hardest-hit by the storm.

Holly Honderich
US reporter

Image source, Josh Griffith / @JoshGriffithWX

Josh Griffith, a 21-year-old storm chaser from North Carolina, has experience with big storms, like Hurricane Ian in 2022 and Idalia in 2023.

But he's never seen anything like the damage left by Helene.

Griffith, who lives with his fiancée in Leicester, a rural area just 20 minutes from Asheville, had watched Helene make its approach. He was lucky, he said. Their home is on a hill and was mostly safe from damage.

But their power was out and by Saturday afternoon they had run out of food, so they made their escape to northeast Georgia.

"We were trying to find any way out, and almost all the roads were completely flooded," he said.

At one point, Josh and his partner had to cross flood water, slogging through six inches of mud underneath 6 inches of running water.

He returned to the Asheville area on Monday, trying to fundraise for supplies for his neighbours in Buncombe County.

"I've never seen it like this before," Josh said of the damage. "Homes have been destroyed, flattened. When it hit, we watched semi-trucks and storage crates and dumpsters and propane tanks floating down the river just rushing through parking lots, destroying everything in its path."

First responders are still unable to access parts of the county, he said, and cell and internet service is still mostly down.

"It's chaotic," he said. "Morale is down bad."

Image source, Josh Griffith / @JoshGriffithWX

Image source, EPA

President Joe Biden will travel to the hard-hit state of North Carolina on Wednesday, he told reporters at the White House, as whole communities remain cut off due to flooding from Hurricane Helene.

Biden will "survey the damage... without taking resources and burning resources on the ground," he said.

The president said during the Oval Office press briefing that he will fly into the city of Raleigh to meet with emergency response coordinators before taking an "aerial tour".

Many areas will need basic support including resources such as water "for weeks", he said, adding that the federal government is providing helicopters, search and rescue help and medical supplies.

"It's hard to get it from point A to point B. It's hard to get (to) if somebody's roads are wiped out... There's no ability to land, there's no ability to get trucks, and no ability to get a whole range of things," he added.

We've just heard an update from Will Ray, the director of of the North Carolina Department of Emergency Management, and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper.

Cooper says the situation currently is that communities remain "completely cut off" and "first responders can't even get in because water is still there".

"Rivers are rising right now as we speak," he warns, adding that "more help is on the way".

Ray says that the state is trying to establish "ground routes" to deliver aid, instead of having to "rely on aircraft to move commodities into impacted areas".

He adds that state authorities are "going to continue to push and encourage" commercial internet providers to restore communication links as quickly as possible.

Vice-President Kamala Harris has just spoken after visiting the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or Fema's, operations centre in Washington DC.

"You're so selfless in the way you serve your country, and in particular at times like this," she tells Fema employees.

She says that she has spoken to the governors of Georgia and North Carolina, "and I have shared with them that we will do everything in our power to help communities respond and recover".

"The devastation from Hurricane Helene immense," she says, pledging to visit the region.

"To everyone who has been impacted by this storm, and to all you who are rightly feeling overwhelmed by the destruction and the loss, the nation is with you," she says.

Ottilie Mitchell
US reporter

Before the power cut out in Boone - a small town in North Carolina - some residents initially joked about living by candlelight.

“We all thought, oh, it might be fun,” says Rachel Wilkes.

But as she stood on the patio to film streams of water running down the slope by her parents' home on Friday, she “realised that half the hillside was coming towards me”.

The house was destroyed in the wave of mud that rushed past her porch.

Wilkes’ husband, still inside as she filmed, saw the mud splash the windows and thought she had gone down with it.

“I came very, very close to death,” says Wilkes. Neither she nor her parents were injured in the crush, something she calls a “miracle”.

Image source, National Guard

More than 5,500 National Guard troops, external from 11 states are assisting in rescue and recovery efforts in the areas affected by Storm Helene.

The troops are delivering aid and restoring transportation links.

Image source, National Guard

Brandon Drenon
US reporter

In the days before Hurricane Helene hit Florida, eventually carving its way through the south-eastern US, Jesse Ross wondered: “Was it going to be as bad as people were telling us?”

He lives in Waynesville in western North Carolina, less than one-hour’s drive from Buncombe County, where at least 35 people were killed by the storm.

“On Wednesday and Thursday, it was just rain. Then all of a sudden on Friday… It was just a river, a torrent of water coming through,” Ross tells me.

He said his house was spared, but that in a newly burgeoning part of town called Frog Level, “water was breaking the buildings down and tearing into the stores”.

The 28-year-old said he lost electricity for “all day on Friday” and that a boil water advisory remains in effect.

“We are waiting on an emergency town meeting tonight to know if the water is good,” Ross says.

He’s also still waiting to hear from some of his family.

“I haven’t filed a missing person’s report yet,” he said.

More now from homeland security adviser Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, who has just expanded on her earlier comments about how high the death toll could be.

"When I said there could be up to 600 people lost, my point was there are 600 people unaccounted for. That’s the number we’re tracking right now… But we don’t know," she says.

"We are very hopeful that some of those people just don’t have cell phones working and are actually alive."

Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, President Biden's homeland security adviser, says it is possible that the death count from Hurricane Helene could be as high as 600.

"The current data we have is that it looks like there could be as many as 600 lost lives, but we do not have any confirmation of that," Sherwood-Randall tells the White House briefing.

"We know there are at least 600 who are lost or unaccounted for."

We're currently listening to a White House briefing on the situation.

President Biden has approved requests for federal assistance for seven states, including major disaster declarations for North and South Carolina, and Florida.

One of the main issues is getting electricity and communications back online, we are told.

A spokeswoman says about 2 million people are without power. There are at least 50,000 personnel working to get power back on across multiple states.

Hundreds of additional emergency responders and equipment like helicopters and high water vehicles are also being sent to areas where the need is greatest.

Carl Nasman
News correspondent

Right now, even reaching people by phone is difficult in affected regions as cell and internet service is still down for many.

I was able to finally reach Patrick Fitzsimmons by phone. He’s the Mayor of Weaverville, a town in the hard-hit Buncombe County, where 35 people are reported to have died so far.

He told me his residents survived the storm, but much of the town’s infrastructure didn’t. There is no electricity and, with power cables and utility poles down, it could take at least a week to restore.

Weaverville’s water plant was flooded and citizens have been without drinking water for four days. The mayor says he’s “frustrated it’s taken so long” for federal aid to arrive.

As of today, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is distributing drinking water and military-style ready meals. Only one grocery store is currently operational.

Buncombe appears to be the epicentre of the disaster in North Carolina, with the highest death toll of any county. And many fear that number could rise.

“The county has set up a website where people can ask about missing persons,” Mayor Fitzsimmons says. "It’s gotten 11,000 requests so far.”

Officials are still out conducting search and rescue missions and delivering emergency supplies to residents as some begin the daunting process of cleaning up after the massive storm.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

At least five more people have been found dead in the hard-hit county of Buncombe in western North Carolina. The county includes the popular tourist town of Asheville.

In total, 35 people in the county have died, officials said on Monday, up from 30 this weekend.

“Devastation does not even begin to describe how we feel, but my teams will be continuing to help in recovery," Sheriff Quentin Miller said.

Nationwide, as of this morning, 116 people had died from the storm in several states, according to the BBC's US partner CBS News.

That means the number of fatalities in Buncombe comprises about a third of the total deaths from Hurricane Helene.

Officials have said they expect this number to keep rising as they carry out more search missions.

As much of western North Carolina continues to battle the devastating effects of Helene, some people are looking for their loved ones.

In Avery County, Jessica Meidinger is searching for her mother - her home was swept away by a nearby river, she told local outlet WCNC. Her stepfather swam to safety, but her mother has still not been found.

“It remains scary but the more touch points you get the more hope you get," Meidinger told the outlet.

Meanwhile, in a group on Facebook, dozens of people are sharing photos of their missing loved ones - brothers, friends, mothers, daughters - hoping for any clues about their whereabouts. One man asked for help finding a friend's brother who was "last seen floating on the roof of a house when his dog jumped in the water and he jumped in after".

With cell service severely limited, officials are conducting search and rescue missions to try to bring emergency supplies to those who have been stranded. We'll bring you the latest on this as we get it.

Having heard that update from President Biden, our visual journalism colleagues have been working to show some of the destruction caused by Helene.

Here's an area of North Carolina, Asheville, shown last October and in the last few hours.

You can see areas entirely flooded by water - have a look: