Supplies are being brought into the region by air following devastation from Tropical Storm Helene across Western North Carolina as search and rescue operations remain underway.

The National Weather Service said Helene had cleared most of the Western North Carolina area by 11:21 a.m. Friday, but significant impacts including serious flooding were expected to continue into the weekend. Numerous areas and cities along the French Broad River are experiencing flooding and the river continues to rise.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Floodwaters pushed by the remnants of Hurricane Helene left North Carolina’s largest mountain city isolated Saturday by damaged roads and a lack of power and cellphone service, part of a swath of destruction across southern Appalachia that left an unknown number dead and countless worried relatives unable to reach loved ones.

Major flooding hit the Friday as Helene passed over the state. Reports of flooding stretched the from the northern border of the state to the southern in one of the most widespread severe weather events to hit the area in decades.