ASHEVILLE, N.C. — A historic village in western North Carolina is underwater after bearing the brunt of devastating flood damage from Hurricane Helene.

Tree branches, logs and trash floated around the village of Biltmore in Asheville, famous for being built and owned by one person.

Resident Tammy Borgesen was one of dozens of people standing outside a downtown hotel, one of the few places with Wi-Fi access, hoping to connect with loved ones.

“We tried to send an email or text to let everyone know we were OK,” said Borgesen, who had water at home but no electricity.

She said she plans to wait out the storm and “hope for the best.”

“We found ourselves in a strange limbo,” Borgesen said.

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Water levels reached several feet and in some areas reached the tops of road signs. Fast-moving water surged over the front steps, flooding buildings and small businesses as it seemed to Helene that Asheville had been nearly leveled.

“We knew the flood was coming, but we didn’t know it would be so devastating,” one woman at the scene told NBC News. “All this loss and destruction is just heartbreaking.”

Gov. Roy Cooper’s office rescued more than 200 people from floods in North Carolina in a statement Saturday. The Department of Transportation said more than 400 roads were closed in the state, hampering travel and rescue operations.

Asheville, population 95,000, is about 240 miles west of Charlotte.

“It amazes me and I’m really worried about my friends, neighbors and businesses here on the river,” one man told NBC News, partly blaming climate change for the devastation. “This is just a reminder that climate change will impact us all. No one is safe from the effects of climate change and we really need to take action now.”

The devastation comes after Hurricane Helene hit Georgia on Thursday evening, leaving widespread damage across the southern United States

At least 53 people have been confirmed dead as of Saturday, and about 3 million customers in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Virginia are without power, according to Poweroutage.us.

The storm, now a post-tropical cyclone, severely hit the Southeast.

More than 50 people were stranded in an East Tennessee hospital Friday by rapidly rising water levels and high winds, after several failed attempts to airlift them during a perilous rescue operation.

President Joe Biden has already approved emergency declaration requests from the governors of several southern states affected by Helene.

Georgia, Florida, Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee and South Carolina will receive a variety of federal aid from the government after the storm made landfall as a highly destructive Category 4 hurricane.

Biden also ordered the deployment of more than 1,500 federal workers to the region, including search and rescue teams, medical teams and power restoration teams.