The Southeast grappled Sunday with rising death tolls, a lack of vital supplies in isolated, flood-stricken areas, and the widespread loss of homes and property while the devastating toll of Hurricane Helene became more clear and officials warned of a lengthy and difficult rebuild.

Authorities rushed to airlift supplies and restore communications and roads in flooded Asheville, North Carolina, on Sunday as residents along the storm-battered Florida coast gathered for church services amid the wreckage of Hurricane Helene.

Western North Carolina was isolated by landslides and flooding that forced the closure of Interstate 40 and other roads. There have been hundreds of water rescues, including in rural Unicoi County in East Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were plucked by helicopter from a hospital rooftop Friday.