CLAY COUNTY, N.C. — Communities across North Carolina that escaped the serious flooding caused by Hurricane Helene are now doing all they can to help those suffering. Channel 2’s Berndt Petersen was in Clay County, North Carolina where residents said they feel extremely fortunate.

Crews are continuing their work to clear debris, restore power and get supplies into North Carolina communities that remain isolated due to the destruction caused after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida last week,

Relief efforts in western North Carolina have been hindered by devastating flooding and road closures after the swath of destruction left by Helene.

After hitting Florida’s Gulf Coast, Helene tore through the Southeast, leaving dozens of people dead and millions without power, unleashing historic rain and flooding in parts of Georgia and the Carolinas.

"Then it filled up the valley with mud." It took him a full day to dig to the main road with a farm excavator. He found roads strewn with downed power lines, fallen limbs, thick mud, and debris.

North Carolina was a "post-apocalyptic" landscape on Monday in the wake of Helene, with hundreds of people still cut off from communications and unaccounted for amid flooded roads and a lack of basic services.

It had been 48 hours since the winds and rains from Hurricane Helene ripped through western North Carolina and Sam Perkins still had not heard from his parents.