The governor said Helene dropped 10 to 29 inches of rain on the mountains in parts of the state, resulting in life-threatening landslides and floods. That has prompted reports of up to 1,000 missing, and for some of their loved ones to go searching for them.

Helene has torn through the Southeast, killing more than four dozen people, in what a North Carolina county official called the "most significant natural disaster" the region has experienced in recent years.