Historic North Carolina village underwater after devastating damage from Helene

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – A historic village in western North Carolina is under water after suffering the brunt of devastating flood damage from Hurricane Helene.

Branches, logs and a dumpster floated through Biltmore Village in Asheville, known for being built and owned by a single person.

Resident Tammy Borgesen was among dozens of people standing outside a downtown hotel, one of the few places with Wi-Fi access, hoping to connect with loved ones.

“We were trying to get an email or text message to let everyone know we were OK,” said Borgesen, who had water but no electricity at home.

She said she wanted to wait out the storm and “hope for the best.”

“We are in a strange limbo,” Borgesen said.

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The water level reached several meters and in some areas reached the top of street signs. Rapid water poured over the front steps, flooding buildings and small businesses, while Asheville seemed to be nearly leveled by Helene.

“We knew the flooding was coming, but we didn’t know it would be so catastrophic,” a woman at the scene told NBC News. “All the loss and destruction is just heartbreaking.”

More than 200 people have been rescued from floodwaters in North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper’s office said in a statement Saturday. According to the Department of Transportation, more than 400 roads are closed in the state, hindering travel and rescue efforts.

Asheville, with a population of 95,000 residents, is located approximately 140 miles west of Charlotte.

“This blows my mind and I’m very worried for friends, neighbors and businesses down here by the river,” one man told NBC News, while partly blaming climate change for the destruction. “It’s just a reminder to me that climate change is going to affect us all. No one is safe from the impacts of climate change and we really need to act now.”

The devastation occurred as Hurricane Helene made landfall in Georgia on Thursday evening, leaving widespread devastation across the southern United States

At least 53 people were confirmed dead Saturday and about 3 million customers in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Virginia are without power, according to Poweroutage.us.

The storm, now a post-tropical cyclone, hit the Southeast hard.

More than 50 people were stranded in an eastern Tennessee hospital Friday because of rapidly rising waters and strong winds after multiple attempts to airlift them failed during a dangerous rescue operation.

President Joe Biden has already approved requests for emergency declarations from the governors of several southern states affected by Helene.

Georgia, Florida, Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee and South Carolina will receive various federal aid from the government after the storm made landfall as a highly destructive Category 4 hurricane.

Biden has also ordered the deployment of more than 1,500 federal forces to the region, including search and rescue teams, medical teams and power restoration teams.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com