Western North Carolina grapples with aftermath of Hurricane Helene

ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- Isolated and without electricity or phone service since Hurricane Helene inflicted devastation across the Southeast nearly a week ago, residents in the mountains of western North Carolina are relying on old-fashioned ways of communicating and coping.

At the town square in Black Mountain, local leaders stood atop a picnic table shouting updates about when power might be restored. One woman took notes to pass along to her neighbors. Alongside a fencerow, a makeshift message board listed the missing names of people. In other areas, mules delivered medical supplies to mountaintop homes. Residents collected water from creeks and cooked over camp stoves. And across the region, people were looking after each other.

After surveying the area by helicopter on Wednesday, President Joe Biden praised the Democratic governor of North Carolina and the Republican governor of South Carolina for their responses to the storm, saying that in the wake of disasters, "we put politics aside."

While government cargo planes brought food and water into the hardest-hit areas and rescue crews waded through creeks searching for survivors, those who made it through the storm, whose death toll has topped 180, leaned on one another - not technology.

"I didn't know where I was going, didn't know what was going to happen next. But I got out and I'm alive," said Robin Wynn, who lost power at her Asheville home early Friday and was able to grab a bag of canned goods and water before getting to a shelter despite water up to her knees.

Now that she's back home, she said her neighbors have been watching out for one another. Plenty of people have come around to make sure everyone has a hot meal and water.

Helping one another in the hardest-hit areas

In remote mountain areas, helicopters hoisted the stranded to safety while search crews moved toppled trees so they could look door to door for survivors. In some places, homes teetered on hillsides and washed-out riverbanks.

Nearly a week after the storm, more than 1.1 million customers still had no power in the Carolinas and Georgia, where Helene struck after barreling over Florida's Gulf Coast as a Category 4 hurricane. Deaths have been reported in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia, in addition to the Carolinas.

Sarah Vekasi is a potter who runs a store in Black Mountain called Sarah Sunshine Pottery, named after her normally bubbly personality. But these days she's struggling with the trauma of Helene and uncertainty about the future of her business.

"All I can say is that I'm alive. I'm not doing great. I'm not doing good. But I'm extremely grateful to be alive, especially when so many are not," Vekasi said.

One thing that makes her feel a little better is the fellowship of the daily town meeting at the square.

"It's incredible being able to meet in person," Vekasi said after Wednesday's session, where more than 150 people gathered.

Martha Sullivan was taking careful notes at the meeting so she could share the information - roads reopened, progress in getting power restored, work on trying to get water flowing again - with others.

Sullivan, who has lived in Black Mountain for 43 years, said her children invited her to come to Charlotte after the storm, but she wants to stay in her community and look after her neighbors.

"I'm going to stay as long as I feel like I'm being useful," Sullivan said.

Eric Williamson, who works at First Baptist Church in Hendersonville, normally makes home visits to members who can't physically get to church. This week, he's their lifeline, delivering food that meets dietary restrictions and tossing out food that had spoiled.

Beyond checking in on the essentials, he says it's important to just socialize with folks in a moment like this to help them know they aren't alone.

He has a handwritten list of everyone he needs to visit. "They don't have telephone service, even if they have a landline, a lot of that isn't working," Williamson said. "So we're bringing them food and water, but also just bringing them a smile and a prayer with them just to give them comfort."

Volunteers in Asheville gathered on Wednesday before going out to help find people who have been unreachable because of phone and internet outages. They took along boxes of drinking water and instructions to return in person with their results.

Even notifying relatives of people who died in the storm has been difficult.

"That has been our challenge, quite honestly, is no cell service, no way to reach out to next of kin," said Avril Pinder, an official in Buncombe County where at least 61 people have died. "We have a confirmed body count, but we don't have identifications on everyone or next-of-kin notifications."

Biden and Harris get a firsthand look

Biden flew over the devastation in North and South Carolina, getting a firsthand look at the mess left by a storm that now has killed at least 189 people, making Helene the deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland U.S. since Katrina, according to statistics from the National Hurricane Center.

Speaking in Raleigh, North Carolina, Biden said, "Our job is to help as many people as we can as quickly as we can and as thoroughly as we can."

That includes a commitment from the federal government to foot the bill for debris removal and emergency protective measures for six months. The money will address the impacts of landslides and flooding and will cover costs of first responders, search and rescue teams, shelters, and mass feeding.

"We're not leaving until you're back on your feet completely," Biden said.

Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to neighboring Georgia, where she said the president had approved a request to pick up the tab for similar emergency aid there for three months.

Biden plans on traveling to disaster areas in Florida and Georgia on Thursday.

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Verduzco reported from Swannanoa, North Carolina, and Seewer from Toledo, Ohio. Contributing to this report were Associated Press journalists Brittany Peterson in Hendersonville, North Carolina; Kate Payne in Madiera Beach, Fla.; John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia; Brendan Farrington in Tallahassee, Florida; Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee; Michael Kunzelman in College Park, Maryland; and Cedar Attanasio and Jim Mustian in New York.

SPRUCE PINE, N.C. -- Two North Carolina facilities that manufacture the high-purity quartz used for making semiconductors, solar panels and fiber-optic cables have been shut down by Hurricane Helene with no reopening date in sight.

Sibelco and The Quartz Corp both shut down operations in the Appalachian town of Spruce Pine on Thursday ahead of the storm that swept away whole communities in the western part of the state and across the border in East Tennessee. The town is home to mines that produce some of the world's highest-quality quartz.

With increasing global demand, Sibelco announced last year that it would invest $200 million to double capacity at Spruce Pine.

Since the storm, the company has simply been working to confirm that all of its employees are safe and accounted for, according to a statement, as some were "unreachable due to ongoing power outages and communication challenges."

"Please rest assured that Sibelco is actively collaborating with government agencies and third-party rescue and recovery operations to mitigate the impact of this event and to resume operations as soon as possible," the company wrote.

The Quartz Corp wrote that restarting operations is a "second order of priority."

"Our top priority remains the health and safety of our employees and their families," the company wrote.

Spruce Pine quartz is used around the world to manufacture the equipment needed to make the silicon chips that underpin all our digital devices, Vince Beiser, author of "The World in a Grain," said in an email.

"To make silicon chips, you need to first melt down a highly-purified material called polysilicon. That can only be done in crucibles that are themselves made of a material so pure it will not react chemically with the polysilicon and is also able to withstand enormous heat," he said. "The best material for those crucibles is ultra-pure quartz. Spruce Pine is the source of the purest natural quartz ever found on Earth."

An estimated 70-90% of the crucibles used worldwide are made from Spruce Pine quartz, he said.

City officials in Spruce Pine are focused on locating people who were stranded by the storm, said Wayne Peight, a member of Spruce Pine's town council, but reopening the mines is important to more than just the companies behind the facilities.

Peight estimated that around three-quarters of the town has a direct connection to the mines, whether that is a job, a job that relies on the mines or a family member who works at the facilities.

"It's the underpinning of our economy," he said, and getting the facilities back running "is going to be extremely critical" for the people in Spruce Pine.

"If there is no cash in, especially in a county with as many people on the poverty scale as we have already, we are going to have a really difficult fall and winter if that doesn't happen quickly," Peight said.

Devastation from the remnants of Helene isn't stopping one non-profit from continuing its life-saving work.

Manna Food Bank, which provides food for the hungry in 16 counties across western North Carolina, had its facility and warehouse wiped out by last week's storm and is now operating from a makeshift location.

But despite the location change, the food bank still delivered supplies to thousands on Wednesday.

"I want to cry," said Asheville resident Janice Edwards. "I've got tears in my eyes right now."

A devastated community that is continuing to look out for each other.

"People are basically good, and you find out how good they really are," said resident Mary Dawkins.

Dawkins was one of the thousands of people that Manna Food Bank managed to deliver food to Wednesday. Efforts that keep the 86-year-old hopeful as she manages life without power or water.

"People have been so kind and they've been so generous," Dawkins said. "People have talked to me when I've not had contact before."

Edwards is also relying on the food bank's heroic efforts.

"Well, I'm having to go to the creek to get water up, flush my toilet, and I'm taking creek water for my mom to flush toilets," she said.

Jeremy Weinstein, who ran the warehouse for Manna Food Bank before it was washed away by flood waters, said he knows what's at stake.

"The need is higher now than it's ever been especially in some of the hard-to-reach counties that we typically service that are already, you know, facing food insecurity," Weinstein said. "It's already hard to get access to those communities. And now they're really cut off."

Manna is vowing not to turn anyone away as part of a message they want delivered to a community that is hurting.

"We're still here," Weinstein said. "We're going to do what we can to get to you."

President Joe Biden has approved the deployment of 1,000 active-duty soldiers from the 18th Airborne Corps and the 82nd Airborne Division that are stationed at Fort Liberty.

Those soldiers will help FEMA in creating and stabilizing essential services for communities hit hardest by Hurricane Helene.

The soldiers will provide manpower and logistics support, which will help FEMA and other partners reach hardest hit areas in western North Carolina -- some of which became inaccessible when the storm destroyed roads into and out of the area.

Other military equipment already being utilized in North Carolina include:

• US Army and US Navy helicopters, Soldiers, and Sailors providing critical capability to move personnel and supplies in areas where access via roads is not available or viable.
• US Air Force aircraft, helicopters, and Airmen providing search-and-rescue capabilities.
• US Army Soldiers and high wheeled vehicles moving personnel and supplies over roads and terrain damaged or impassable to normal vehicles.
• Army Corps of Engineers Temporary Power Teams and subject matter experts supporting debris removal, water and wastewater management, and bridge inspections.

The National Guard has also activated more than 6,500 Guardsmen as well as hundreds of boats and helicopters.