Gov. Cooper outlines massive recovery efforts in NC mountains after devastation from Helene

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper spoke to CBS 17 Saturday evening as massive recovery efforts from Helene continued across the western part of the state. As of Saturday night, 10 people in North Carolina have died because of the storm.

Helene devastated the western part of the state, flooding roads and leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power. Crews are still working to rescue people and the state is sending supplies west by air. On Saturday night, President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration for North Carolina, making federal funds available.

Gov. Cooper said emergency management agencies are working 24/7 to coordinate recovery efforts and get people the help they need.

“Our priority has been to get people out and to get supplies in,” he said.

The governor said over 30 swiftwater rescue teams are on the ground in the western part of the state. Since Thursday, swiftwater and helicopter rescue teams have rescued more than 200 people.

Governor Cooper also said the National Guard, FEMA and 19 other states are also helping with rescues and delivering supplies.

“They need food, water mostly, particularly in the Asheville area where their water is cut off because of contamination,” he said.

Many areas have little to no cell service. The governor said 911 operations are working – counties outside of the flood area are helping route calls, and cell phone companies are working together to get service restored.

“They have an agreement saying that if one of them can get up, then all of the cell phone services can use that one tower that they get up,” Cooper said.

According to Duke Energy’s outage map Saturday, between 70 and 100 percent of customers in some counties are still without power.

“There’s a lot of damage out there, physical damage, downed trees, down lines, broken poles. And we’ve got a force of about 10,000 line and tree workers here in the Carolinas that are working. Many of those are staged in western North Carolina,” Duke Energy spokesperson Jeff Brooks said.

Brooks said it could take days to restore power in some areas.

“When you think about western North Carolina in particular, very remote areas, hard to access,” he said. “We’ve got all hands on deck here in the Carolinas working to restore outages that we do have here.”

Governor Cooper is  also asking people to stay off the roads and not travel to the western part of the state.

“We want people to stay off the roads to not only for safety reasons, but because oftentimes we can only use one lane. We want rescue and utility trucks and supplies to be able to be using those roads right now,” he said.

The governor said the damage to roads will take significant rebuilding efforts when floodwaters recede. Right now, agencies are working to create temporary routes.

“Some of these roads just may be gone and so, yeah, we will work to rebuild those roads and get federal help for that. We already suspect that it will be a significant rebuild and repair effort that will have to go into this. We won’t know the full extent of it until the water has receded,” he said.

The governor acknowledged there is a lot of work yet to be done, s sending a message to everyone impacted.

“Just know that the people of North Carolina care about western North Carolina. They’re not only praying for them, but they’re taking action,” he said.

Cooper also asked people not call 911 if they cannot get in touch with family and friends. To report missing loved ones, people can call NC 211 or 1-888-892-1162 if they are calling from out of state.

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