BALTIMORE — It’s been one week since Hurricane Helene tore through the Southeast and devastated Western North Carolina with heavy rains and severe flooding.
Many people are trapped as hundreds of roads in Western North Carolina have been inaccessible due to the storm.
A team of rescuers from Maryland have been working around the clock to try to get to the isolated people, many without food and water.
Maryland Hart is made up of 24 highly skilled first responders from fire departments and emergency services departments across the Baltimore region. They’re in North Carolina right now rescuing people by helicopter from the devastation.
At least 225 people have been confirmed dead, and officials say they expect the death toll to continue to rise as recovery efforts continue.
“It happened in the mountains, there’s a lot of small communities and unfortunately they’ve been cut off either by the flooding, bridges washing out, or mudslides,” Michael Berna, Maryland Hart Civilian Team Administrator said.