BUNCOMBE COUNTY- Over 14,000 applications have been approved by FEMA and over $12 million in disaster assistance has been dispersed to residents of Buncombe County, officials said Saturday morning.

Tropical Storm Helene brought historic flooding and catastrophic devastation to western North Carolina, where thousands are still without power and water. Buncombe County had the highest death toll of any county in North Carolina.

County Manager Avril Pinder said as of 9:00 a.m. Saturday, there were 74,293 Duke Energy customers without power.

Residents can stay up to date with power outages here.

"Food and water distribution sites are open until 7:00 p.m. or when supplies run out. Please bring containers to refill water," Pinder said.

These sites include William W. Estes Elementary, Sand Hill Elementary, North Windy Ridge Intermediate, Fairview Elementary, Black Mountain, Cane Creek Middle School, Leicester Elementary, Asheville Middle School, Lucy S. Herring Elementary, Shiloh Community Center and Pack Square Park.

MaryAnn Tierney, the FEMA team leader assigned to Buncombe County, said "this is a long road and FEMA will be with you every step of the way."

"Life safety remains our top priority, search and rescue is still ongoing throughout the county. So we ask you to be mindful of our first responders working alongside the roads... to date, FEMA has received over 27,000 applications, which have been approved, and has provided over $27 million statewide," Tierney said.

In Buncombe County specifically; 14,000 applications have been approved and over $12 million has been dispersed to residents.

"This is critical assistance that will help people with immediate needs, as well as displacement assistance that helps them if they can't stay in their homes. I encourage you to register with disaster assistance if you have not done so," Tierney said.

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Assistance to undocumented immigrants is limited.

"If a dependent in the household is a legal permanent resident, or citizen, then the household may be eligible for assistance. The way to determine that is to register and then we can work through those individual cases," Tierney said.

There are over 1,300 emergency responders from across the United States, including the Fire Department of New York, in Buncombe County.

"There are currently over 3,000 federal responders on the ground in North Carolina," Tierney said.

How to make sure your well is safe

County health official Jessica Silver said the State Board of Environmental Health is working to make sure flooded wells damaged in the storm provide safe water for home use.

"A flooded well is a well where water was over the top of the well at any point during the storm. Your well may have also received structural damage. If your well was either damaged or flooded during the storm you must disinfect the well," Silver said.

Directions for disinfecting your well can be found at www.buncombecounty.org/eh.

"Being without water is hard and we are all being creative when it comes to flushing. So we ask that you consider putting a filled two-liter bottle in the back of your toilet. This will reduce the amount of water that's needed for each flush," Silver said.

Ways to conserve water

She urged residents to "think of ways that you can reuse water."

"For example, after you wash dishes pour the dishwater into the back of your toilet for future flushing. At this time, we advise not to use water from rivers, creeks, or streams due to contamination from the storm," Silver said.

She praised the community for stepping up, as some restaurants are providing free meals to residents in need.

Some restaurants are reopening

"Environmental health staff is visiting food service establishments and providing information to operators on how they can reopen for business as safely and as quickly as possible," Silver said.

Restaurant visits started on Friday, Oct. 4

"Just to make sure those that are open are operating safely and have an adequate supply of water or are using a backup water emergency plan that the state has approved. Some places have been giving permission to reopen... other establishments we are making those visits as fast as we possibly can," Silver said.

How to easily report storm-related issues

Lillian Govus, director of communication and public engagement, said the county has launched an online tool for residents to report storm-related issues by uploading geotagged photos.

"This can include; blocked roads, landslides, an urgent need for evacuation, supplies, or medicine. The photos will help emergency services respond faster and more accurately to specific locations," Govus said.

The website is live at report.buncombecounty.org.

"Take a photo with your phone. Upload it to the website and the geocode attached to that photo will tell emergency services where you are posting that photo from so we can provide supplies, materials and emergency support to you," Govus said. "Do not use the take photo or video option because that will not transmit the location information. You need to take a photo, upload the photo and that geocoded location information will be transmitted to our emergency services personnel."