A crisis is unfolding in the mountains of western North Carolina, where water, food and other supplies are being airlifted into places cut off by mudslides and washed-out roads.

Helene roared ashore late Thursday in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane, with 140 mph winds. A weakened Helene quickly moved through Georgia, then soaked the Carolinas and Tennessee with torrential rains that flooded waterways.

The Southeast is grappling with widespread devastation after Helene made landfall Thursday as the strongest hurricane on record to slam into Florida’s Big Bend region and tore through multiple states,