Wide tornado has hit. Those are some of the descriptions used to talk about this heartbreaking toll of Hurricane Helene across the southeastern united states. Today, we learned the storm has killed at least 128 people. That number has increased since an hour ago when i reported on this hundreds of others have been reported missing. Towns, reduced to debris. We begin our coverage this hour with cnns Rafael Romo. Hes in Western North Carolina with a closeup look at this horrific destruction here for sara tim co, this freshly brewed coffee is a luxury made possible by the love of her father. I asked my daughter, are you okay. Youve just texted her and she sent me back these horrifying pictures. I mean, it looked like armageddon. Thats when theyve Tim Cook decided to travel hundreds of miles to come to the rescue of his daughter and her family, bringing food, water, gas, and supplies, buildings down, houses, washed away im like, oh, my god, my dollars in the middle of this and shes 7. 5 months pregnant. The baby is going to be here at about eight weeks and its my first so its exciting. I also dont want him to come early we are not prepared the asheville, North Carolina resident and her family were among the hundreds of thousands of people left without power here in devastated Western North Carolina emergency crews say theyre overwhelmed not only by the amount of people in need of help but also because theyre unable to reach many of them Cut Off communities, destroyed roads and broken bridges like this one here is swannanoa are making the job of first responders and Search And Rescue teams very difficult here and Western North Carolina i didnt really know my neighbors that well, actually until like two days ago in this asheville neighborhood, people decided they couldnt wait for help to arrive and theyve given us water, fuel, food. They organize themselves to clear their street that was covered in Mud And Debris and weve all chipped in. Weve all worked together with some Art Thanks to Rafael Romo for that report. Lets listen in on Vice President harris at Fema Headquarters. You each do and you are so selfless in the way that you serve our country. And in particular at times like this, people who are just so desperately in need of Help Support and just knowing that the resources are going to be expedited to them as they need it. In their most vulnerable situation when their families have been at risk, where their homes may have been destroyed, where they lack of just basic essential needs you all do that work around the clock as though these are your family members. I know how you work and i know how hard you work so im here mostly to thank you all for all that you do. Everyone who was here and everyone whos on the ground in the region at the moment. And im here to also talk about where we are based on the Briefing Tsai have been receiving over the last couple of days. I have received regular briefings on the impact of Hurricane Helene, including from Administrator Criswell and over the past 24 hours, i have spoken with Governor Kemp of georgia, Governor Cooper of North Carolina, and many local officials i have shared with them that we will do everything in our power to help communities respond and recover and ive shared with them that i plan to be on the ground as soon as possible. But as soon as possible without disrupting any Emergency Response operations because that must be the highest priority in the firstorder of business the devastation from Hurricane Helene is immense millions of americans are without power. Thousands of families have lost their homes entire neighborhoods have been destroyed major roads have been blocked or damaged, leaving entire towns inaccessible at this very moment. Already, nearly 100 people have been confirmed dead and hundreds more are missing the destruction we have seen in alabama, florida, georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina tennessee, and virginia is heartbreaking in coordination with state and local Officials President biden and i will continue to make sure that communities have the support and the resources that they need not only to respond to this storm and its immediate aftermath, but also the resources they will need to recover so far more than 3,300 federal personnel are on the ground to assist with recovery efforts. They are deploying food, water, and generators and we continue to work with teams on the ground to restore Water And Power as quickly as possible. To everyone who has been impacted by this storm. And to all of those of you who are rightly feeling overwhelmed by the destruction and the loss our nation is with you and President Biden and i, and all of the folks behind me are with you. We will continue to do everything we can to help you recover and to help you rebuild no matter how long it takes and i do believe the true character of a nation is revealed in moments of hardship over the past few days our nation has endured some of the worst Destruction And Devastation that we have seen in quite some time and we have responded with our best with the best folks who are on the ground and here doing the kind of work that is about rising to a moment of crisis to do everything we can to lift up folks who deserve to be seen and heard communities have been coming together people are checking in on their neighbors families are opening their doors to strangers in need and as they always do, are first responders are working around the clock putting their own lives at risk to keep our communities safe moments like this reminds us. We have so much more in common than what separates us and the true measure of our leadership, each One Of Us is based on lifting other folks up knowing how we can make a difference so i thank everyone for rising to this moment. And i thank you all here for the work that you do. May god bless you and may god bless the united states of america. Thank you all very much. Thank you Kamala Harris speaking Fema Headquarters as she gets an update on the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene to so many states hitting so many people hearts so hard in the united states, lets go to one of the hardest Hit Areas right now and Swannanoa Fire Chief anthony pentland, from a Town East of asheville, North Carolina chief. Thanks so much for joining us. Whats it like . Where you are right now destruction. Devastation. I dont even know if that would even be the right word to say. This will this will not be a repair this will be a rebuild of our community do people in your region have basis as cities like Electricity Or Water . The water and the power is both out currently in our area. What talking about some of the main Transmission Lines it come through our area. Polls are going to have to be reset what do you need . Most quickly . And i mean, i dont even understand it. Can you even contemplate how long it will take for things to reopen and for people to return businesses through our main part of our community theyre going to have to be torn down and rebuild. So i dont how long that will take. The Parking Lots theyll have to be re firmed up and been reask faulted the road if they were on it, Gust Damage the main bridge through our community is damaged that bridge goes over to secondary road, that secondary road is not there on the East Side of the bridge. Its not even there its been washed away why is there enough time to prepare before the flood were the warnings to the people of swannanoa. A strong enough, clear enough around 34 years in the Fire Service here in swannanoa and in 2004, we had hurricane ivan. Hurricane firms since he came on backtoback weekends. And we know where our floodprone areas are so what we did with this storm, we went to those floodprone Areas Way before the storm here and told the folks that the storm was coming. But we were getting rain prior to that storm arriving. I believe that totals was like nine inches of rain, fail before the actual storm brought its rain with it so we went to those areas to tell him, hey, this storm is coming and this area is prone to flooding about on thursday morning, about 5 00 we went back to these realized that its going to be worse than they predicted in our area. And so we back these areas on a loudspeaker was sirens tell him this is a flood emergency. Please go to higher ground and we had a lady as we were doing some Rescue Efforts on Friday Lady came up to me, so im glad you guys came to give us a warning because i did get out swann and our Fire Chief Anthony panel. And thank you so much. Please stay in touch with our team about Anything Anything we can do to bring attention to what you need. Volunteer organizations are on the ground and some of the areas battered by hurricane, the leader of one of those groups is going to join us live next on details with details on how you can help communities in need. Plus, as the hours tick down until tomorrows Vice President ial debate, weve got some new details on how both governor tim Walz And Senator j. D. Vance are preparing and how they might respond to some of the most pressing issues is over. Tim Walz And J. D vance in their first and only Face To face debate. 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Com if you or a Loved One have mesothelial not well send you a free book to answer questions you may have called now and well come to you 800 a31, 3,700 were back with more in our national lead. The devastation caused by Hurricane Helene joining us now from asheville, North Carolina is jessica thompson, the chief executive officer of all hands and heart thats a Volunteer Organization that provides disaster relief. Thanks so much for joining us so your organization all hands at heart has mobilized teams. Can both North Carolina and to florida tell us about that starting with where you are in North Carolina and what youre seeing Thanks Jake and obviously our hearts go out to the millions of people who are affected by this devastating Hurricane Herron North Carolina, were seeing devastation like some of the worst storms that weve seen affect the united states. All allhandson hot says responded over the last 12 years to events like hurricane katrina, hurricane harvey. And were really just seeing catastrophic becky impact here in North Carolina. How about florida . Whats your organization doing there jake, we actually already had a team in florida last week who will literally packing up to Head Home after two years of supporting hundreds of families with recovery from hurricane ian. And instead, they sheltered in place in orlando headed back the very next day, an already helping homeowners who have been reinfected by this storm. Weve heard from the same people that we helped previously they have been re in on dated. So the impacts in florida also incredible. But here in North Carolina, this is new. And so people well, sadly in florida have some experience of evacuating and preparing and really here, were seeing because of the mountainous geography such severe impacts, i have never seen in 15 years it is in the sector, the number of helicopters flying over to deliver supplies because communities remain Cut Off, we wont know the full impact of this storm for days and weeks because the landslides have close the roads and the Cell Reception is still out im sure you are meeting and hearing about so many people with so many moving stories, tragic stories. If theres any one that really sticks out right now, please. Please tell us hearing from a homeowner that we helped in florida previously, who was texting us through the storm, giving us live ive updates on the fact that her house was flooding over again and so we are proud to be able to stand alongside communities that weve served before, and also to brynn in our dedicated teams to help new communities recover from this dreadful disaster. What are the biggest needs right now, it seems to me, from the comfort of my studio, but talking to all these people that they dont even have Electricity Or Water were really seeing a disaster after a disaster with no drinking water, no power, no Cell Reception chin. So obviously we need to let emergency services law enforcement, Search And Rescue do what they need to do before the Volunteer Crews are able to come in and stand along aside those homeowners as they start the process of recovering their own homes, how long will your team be in place an immediate and and Emergency Appeal for to raise 2 Million to allow us to say well beyond the first year because the impacts of this will be felt for a long, long time all right. Jessica thompson, the chief executive officer of all hands and hearts, a Volunteer Organization that provides disaster relief. Thank you so much and best of luck with what youre doing. Thank you. Jake if you are looking for more ways to help head to cnn. Com impact. Weve got a list of vetted organizations working on the ground in some of the hardest Hit Areas that cnn. Com impact the group that we were just talking to again, is all hands and parked Breaking News out of georgia. A judge has just struck down that states abortion ban, sixweek abortion ban. Thats next plus what exactly should we expect tomorrow during the first and only Vice President ial debate this season, our teams have been digging through hours and hours of old Debate Footage of both candidates trying to answer that exact question. Stay with us room with Wolf Blitzer denied it six points. Cnn, youre leaving me for a Turbotax Expert seeing it, Adam Turbotax for your prides this Fault Switch to a turbotax live expert and well beat the price you paid your approach last Tax Season we remain for hughley me to bring her joy because when a scary tumor threatened her story we became her magic every Nut And Bolt became speaker asheville each hand in toul, dedicated to one Quest Racing that tumor in keeping her story alive because we were made for make it easy, was open door so your home in one season for any reason . Start your Move It open door. Com sl