ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — President Joe Biden was expected to examine Wednesday the devastation in the mountains of western North Carolina, where exhausted emergency workers worked around the clock to clear roads, restore power and cell service and reach people who remained stranded Hurricane Helene. The storm killed at least 133 people and hundreds more were still missing Monday evening, four days after Helene first made landfall.

Meanwhile, election officials across the South made emergency preparations to ensure displaced residents could vote in the upcoming presidential election.

Officials in the badly hit Asheville Tourism Center said its water system suffered “catastrophic” damage that could take weeks to fully repair. Government officials, aid groups and volunteers worked to deliver supplies to the city and surrounding mountain communities by plane, truck and even mule. At least 40 people died in the county, which includes Asheville.

The death toll in North Carolina included one horrific story after another of people trapped in their homes and vehicles by floods or killed by falling trees. A courthouse security guard died after hiding in his truck. A couple and a 6-year-old boy who were waiting on a roof to be rescued drowned when part of their house collapsed.

Rescuers managed to save dozens of people, including a toddler and two others who were stuck on the roof of a car in Atlanta. More than 50 hospitals Patients and staff in Tennessee were rescued from the roof of the hospital in a daring helicopter rescue operation.

How some of the hardest hit areas are coping

The storm triggered the worst flooding in North Carolina in a century. Precipitation estimates In some areas, they exceeded 2 feet (61 centimeters) since Wednesday and several major routes into Asheville were washed away or blocked by mudslides. This includes a 4-mile (6.4-kilometer) stretch of Interstate 40 that was severely damaged.

North Carolina Transportation Secretary Joey Hopkins urged people Monday to stay off the roads.

“The damage is severe and we continue to tell people that they should not drive on the roads in Western North Carolina if they have no reason to be in North Carolina,” Hopkins said at a news conference. “We don’t want you here if you don’t live here and don’t help with the storm.”

At a British grocery store in Asheville, Elizabeth Teall-Fleming stood in line with dozens of others, waiting to get in, hoping to find non-perishable food since they have no electricity. She planned to heat up some canned food over a camp stove for her family.

“I’m just glad they’re open and can let us in,” she said.

Teall-Fleming said she was surprised by the severity of the storm.

“Just seeing what little news we were able to see was shocking and really sad.”

In one neighborhood, residents collected stream water in buckets to flush their toilets.

Others waited in line at Mountain Valley Water for more than a block to fill milk jugs and any other containers they could find with drinking water.

Derek Farmer, who brought three-gallon apple juice containers, said he had been prepared for the storm but was now nervous after three days without water. “I just didn’t know how bad it was going to get,” Farmer said.

Helene thundered ashore late Thursday in northern Florida as a Category 4 hurricane and quickly moved north. The storm Life across the Southeast was turned upside downwhere deaths were also reported in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia. Officials warned that reconstruction would be long and difficult.

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said Monday that the shelters were housing more than 1,000 people.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper took a tour of the Asheville area and later met with workers distributing meals.

“This was an unprecedented storm that hit western North Carolina,” he said afterward. “It requires an unprecedented response.”

Worries before the presidential election

Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said during an emergency meeting Monday that it was exploring options for voters in the hardest-hit counties. She planned to provide more information at a news conference Tuesday, including how someone could cite “natural disaster” as a reason for not being able to provide photo ID.

Election workers across Georgia returned to work, although some offices struggled with power outages, limited internet and damage to infrastructure.

In Lowndes County, local elections board staff worked on two computers instead of the usual eight, elections director Deb Cox said. There is no WiFi in the office either.

“As of this morning we are fully operational,” Cox said. “It’s just slower than normal because we have fewer resources.”

In Columbia County, poll worker training will begin this week, said Nancy Gay, the county's elections director, but she may have to change locations because of the power outage.

“Our poll workers are affected,” Gay said. “You have no power. They don't have any gas. You have to give the workers time to process everything and try to put a plan in place before I can really expect them to come to training.”

Mark Ard of the Florida Secretary of State's Office said the Division of Elections is recommending that local election officials contact U.S. Postal Service officials to discuss a remediation plan for mailing, delivery and return of ballots.

Why Western North Carolina was hit so hard

Western North Carolina suffered comparatively more devastation because Helene's remnants there encountered the higher elevations and cooler air of the Appalachian Mountains, causing even more rain to fall.

Asheville and many surrounding mountain towns were built in valleys, making them particularly vulnerable to devastating rains and floods. In addition, the ground was already saturated before Helene arrived, said Christiaan Patterson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

“When Helene came into the Carolinas, we already had this rain and more rain,” Patterson said.

Climate change has exacerbated conditions Allow such storms to thrivewhich intensifies quickly in warmer waters and sometimes turns into strong cyclones within hours.

Destruction from Florida to Virginia

Along Florida's Gulf Coast, several feet of water flooded the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, forcing workers to transport two manatees and sea turtles. All of the animals were safe, but much of the aquarium's vital equipment was damaged or destroyed, said James Powell, the aquarium's executive director.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said the storm “literally spared no one.” Most people in and around Augusta, a city of about 200,000 near the South Carolina border, were still without power Monday.

With at least 30 deaths in South Carolina, Helene was the deadliest tropical cyclone to hit the state since then Hurricane Hugo made landfall north of Charleston in 1989, killing 35 people.

Tropical Storm Kirk is forming and could become a strong hurricane

Tropical Storm Kirk formed in the eastern Atlantic on Monday and is expected to become a “large and strong hurricane” by Tuesday night or Wednesday, the US National Hurricane Center said. The storm was located about 800 miles (1,285 kilometers) west of the Cabo Verde Islands, with maximum sustained winds of 60 miles per hour (95 km/h). There were no coast guards or warnings and the storm system posed no threat to the country.

___

Associated Press reporter Gary D. Robertson in Asheville; John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia; Beatrice Dupuy in New York City; Zeke Miller and Aamer Madhani in Washington; and Jeff Amy in Atlanta contributed.