Busick, North Carolina, a remote town near Mount Mitchell State Park, received 30.78 inches of rain as a result of Helene — a record for the highest rainfall in the Appalachians from a tropical weather system. It beats the 27 inches that fell over the Virginian Appalachians in 1969.

The storm surge, wind damage and inland flooding from Hurricane Helene have been catastrophic, flooding neighborhoods, stranding residents, destroying homes and toppling trees in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee. Dozens have been killed.

The storm surge, wind damage and inland flooding from Hurricane Helene have been catastrophic, flooding neighborhoods, stranding residents, destroying homes and toppling trees in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee. Dozens have been killed.

Authorities in North Carolina were racing on Sunday to find victims and rescue people in mountainous communities in the western part of the state after Hurricane Helene decimated the area with floods and mudslides.

Helene made landfall in Florida's Big Bend region Thursday night as a massive Category 4 hurricane -- the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the Big Bend on record.

Buncombe County officials said more than 1,000 were reported missing, but they expected that number to drop dramatically when cell service is back.