Photo gallery: Helene’s destruction

As communities in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and other Southern states continue to assess the damage from Helene and begin to clean up, at least one official has compared the storm to the most famous hurricane in recent U.S. history.
“This is looking to be Buncombe County’s own Hurricane Katrina,” said Avril Pinder, the manager of the county, which includes Asheville, over the weekend, according to The Washington Post.
In Asheville and surrounding areas, residents are dealing with historic flooding, extensive road closures and the loss of power and cell service, just as people along the Gulf Coast did in the aftermath of Katrina in 2005.
Thousands of people took to social media over the weekend to ask for help getting in touch with loved ones in the Carolinas — and for prayers for recovery efforts.
“We have biblical devastation through the county,” said Ryan Cole, Buncombe County’s assistant emergency services director, to The Washington Post. “We have biblical flooding here.”
Although the damage to homes, businesses and public structures like roads and bridges from flooding is similar to Hurricane Katrina, the death toll is not, at least so far.
More than 1,800 people are believed to have died due to Hurricane Katrina, the George W. Bush Presidential Library reports.
The death toll from Helene currently stands around 120, per The Associated Press.
Here are photos showing Helene’s path of destruction, as well as people picking up the pieces and attempting to move on with their lives.