ASHEVILLE, N.C. − President Joe Biden traveled to the Carolinas on Wednesday afternoon on a tour to survey devastation from Hurricane Helene as residents across much of the Southeast press on with the arduous task of rebuilding their shattered communities, homes and lives.

Biden, who initially flew into Greer, South Carolina, and later into Raleigh, North Carolina, had earlier approved the deployment of up to 1,000 active-duty U.S. soldiers to reinforce North Carolina National Guard members assisting recovery efforts in the state.

The death toll across the Southeast was at least 162 Wednesday and was expected to rise. Buncombe County, home to Asheville, has reported 57 deaths. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper was on the ground in his state Tuesday, touring a local hospital, chatting with residents and officials and helping hand out free meals.

"The people of western North Carolina are inspiring in the toughest of times," Cooper said. "We’re going to have their back."

Water authorities warned that potable running water could be weeks away in some areas. Duke Energy said its round-the-clock power-restoration efforts had resolved more than 1.6 million customer outages in the Carolinas. Still, almost 900,000 homes and businesses remained without power in the two states Wednesday; another 450,000 were dark in Florida, Georgia, Virginia and West Virginia.

Hurricane Helene crashed ashore along Florida's Big Bend as a Category 4 monster late Thursday. Its winds died down after landfall, but the unrelenting rains overwhelmed a wide swath of the already-saturated Southeast. Flash flooding from creeks and rivers destroyed homes and businesses, collapsed roads and ripped victims from their families.

As the waters receded, the damage to infrastructure grew more apparent.

"We are starting to see some of this damage," Duke Energy spokesman Bill Norton wrote on social media. "We had entire substations that were under water."

Storm tracker: Hurricane Kirk is strengthening and forecast to grow larger, NHC says

Developments:

∎ U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the regional cleanup would be a "multibillion-dollar undertaking" and take years to complete.

∎ USA TODAY published a map of resources in the Asheville area that shows where residents can find shelter, water, food and more. The tool is available here.

Vice President Kamala Harris visited the Augusta Emergency Operations Center in Georgia on Wednesday, meeting officials and thanking them for their work in the state's recovery from the impacts of Hurricane Helene.

"I am here to thank you and to listen" said Harris, who is cutting short her campaign schedule as the Democratic presidential nominee to travel to some of the heavily affected states.

Harris spoke Tuesday with Mayor Esther Manheimer of Asheville, North Carolina, and plans to visit the state in the coming days to view the damage, provide updates on federal response and meet with members of affected communities, the White House said.

"I've been reading and hearing about the work you've been doing over the last few days,'' Harris told officials in Augusta, "and I think it really does represent some of the best of what we each know can be done, especially when we coordinate around local, state, federal resources to meet the needs of people who must be seen, who must be heard."

− Joey Garrison

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation opened an inquiry into a plastics manufacturer in Erwin where several workers were swept away by floodwaters from Helene, the Knoxville News Sentinel has learned.

Two women in the group died, an immigrant advocacy group for workers' families said. At least three people are missing. Employees of Impact Plastics have alleged management didn’t allow workers to leave the factory even as warnings were issued and floodwaters from the Nolichucky River began to swamp the building. The company denies the claim.

The bureau confirmed to The News Sentinel – known as Knox News, part of the USA TODAY Network − that District Attorney Steve Finney requested an investigation involving the company but provided no details. Read more here.

− Tyler Whetstone, USA TODAY NETWORK

Relatives and friends of those in areas impacted by natural disasters often become anguished when they can't confirm whether their loved ones in those locations are safe.

Hurricane Helene disrupted power and communications in large swaths of the Southeast, and many communities are still disconnected from the outside world. In some places where internet access is back, power is still out, preventing residents from charging their phones and computers.

But for people in affected areas with even fleeting cellular or WiFi connections, there are ways to signal they're all right, whether it's by indicating so through their voicemail greeting or on Facebook, Instagram or X postings.

Read more here

The soldiers Biden approved being deployed to North Carolina have the manpower and logistical capabilities to "get this vital job done, and fast," the president said in a statement.

"These soldiers will speed up the delivery of life-saving supplies of food, water and medicine to isolated communities in North Carolina," Biden said.

The North Carolina Air National Guard said Wednesday that it had delivered over 100,000 pounds of food, water and other critical supplies for Helene victims, part of a coordinated relief effort with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Over 760 North Carolina Guard soldiers and airmen have been assisting with hurricane relief efforts by air and ground, conducting search and rescue missions, delivering supplies and clearing roads.

− Joey Garrison

Helene's deadly and devastating rampage across the Southeast last week has eliminated any hope of a quiet hurricane season for the U.S. There is still plenty of the season left − it runs through November − and "October is historically an active month, particularly in the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and off the U.S. Southeast coast," said Brian McNoldy, a hurricane research scientist at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School. It doesn't take a strong hurricane to cause a lot of damage, McNoldy said.

"A slow-moving disorganized disturbance that maybe doesn't quite become a tropical storm can unleash feet of rain over an area and create terrible flash flooding," he said. Rainfall concerns, he added, have historically "taken a back seat to the wind threat in people's minds, despite being deadlier." Read more here.

− Doyle Rice

A son who journeyed 11 miles into the Blue Ridge Mountains to locate his parents. A pastor and a rag-tag group of parishioners navigating collapsed roads to deliver aid to stranded residents. Strangers meeting online and coordinating searches for each other's missing loved ones.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, one of the worst storms the U.S. has seen in the modern era, residents across the devastated Southeast and elsewhere have showcased unshakable resolve, heroism and compassion.

“We’ve had an amazing response,” said Paul McGinnis, the pastor at Grace Chapel Foursquare Church in Forest City, North Carolina. Read more here.

− Christopher Cann and Phaedra Trethan

Triumphs out of tragedy: Heroes, helping hands emerge from Hurricane Helene aftermath

Amid mammoth cleanup efforts, the grief remains overwhelming. In the town of Swannanoa, North Carolina, 20 miles east of Asheville, Jessica Dixon was searching for her father, who she believes was swept away to his death by the raging creek behind their home.

"Dad went to the back to grab my mom's purse," said Dixon, 40. "Then all I could hear was Parker (her son) saying, 'Grandpa's gone. Grandpa's gone.' And he was washed away."

In the mountains of western North Carolina − one of the areas hit hardest by Hurricane Helene − mothers are doing what they do best: taking care of others. Local Facebook groups, previously filled with weekend activity recommendations and hand-me-down clothes offerings, are now swamped with moms ready to go to great lengths to help one another − even while in dire need themselves.

They're sharing formula and baby wipes. They're giving away their kids' books and toys. They're offering cribs, mattresses, meals. One mom even offered her frozen breast milk. Kate Patterson, the mother of two young children, has spent the past few days going door-to-door, conducting wellness checks on people living in remote, rural areas around Boone.

"You just see the need, and you do it," she said. "There's no sitting around waiting. You just jump into overdrive."

− Charles Trepany

The hurricane destroyed their towns: These North Carolina moms are saving each other.

Biden visited with officials and first responders in the Carolinas on Wednesday before heading to Georgia and Florida on Thursday, the White House said. Biden pledged to "build back better and stronger" areas destroyed by Helene.

"The Biden-Harris administration is here,'' he tweeted early Wednesday. "And we're not leaving until the job's done."

Vice President Kamala Harris visited Georgia on Wednesday and has said she will also visit North Carolina soon. Former President Donald Trump went to Georgia on Monday.

A tropical disturbance expected to move into the Gulf of Mexico could become a tropical depression by the end of the week or the weekend, according to the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center.

After that, it's still too early to tell where it will go or how much it will strengthen, but the NHC and other forecasters say that even if the system doesn't develop into a named storm, "locally heavy rain could hit portions of the Florida peninsula by the weekend."

AccuWeather warned Florida "may be the prime target" for any budding system next week.

Also churning in the Atlantic basin is Hurricane Kirk as well as a tropical wave south of the Cabo Verde Islands. Kirk is expected to become a major hurricane by Thursday but isn't forecast to pose a threat to the U.S. The tropical wave is forecast to become a tropical depression in a few days while it moves slowly westward. Its destination remains unclear.

− Cheryl McCloud, USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida

Biden pushes to 'jump-start' recovery: Recovery efforts making headway

Access to safe potable water remains a top concern in western North Carolina, authorities said. About 160 boil-water advisories remained in effect and 27 water plants were still shut late Tuesday. Any municipal water supply under a boil-water advisory must be boiled for one minute before consumption in any form, Buncombe County Medical Director Jennifer Mullendore said. Non-potable water should only be used for things like flushing toilets − and rainwater should be considered non-potable and unsafe to drink, Mullendore said.

In Asheville there is still no timeline for the return of water, Assistant City Manager Ben Woody said, adding that it would take "weeks” before water is flowing again.

More than 100 physicians and nurses from across the nation are helping out at Mission Hospital in Asheville, HCA Healthcare system spokesperson Harlow Sumerford said. HCA is also providing hundreds of thousands of bottles of water, tens of thousands of gallons of fuel and satellite data networks to Mission Hospital.

The hospital, atop a hill just south of downtown Asheville, dodged flooding that submerged much of Buncombe County but is laboring to keep up with an onslaught of patients from several counties.

"We're very stretched," said Greg Lowe, president and CEO of Mission Health. "It has become difficult with our staff because they're exhausted."

Contributing: Reuters