North Carolina election officials are scrambling to make sure the state's over 7 million registered voters can cast a ballot in the upcoming presidential election, after flooding from Hurricane Helene caused extensive damage in the western part of the state.

The highest death toll was in North Carolina, where flooding wiped out whole communities. Residents there and across vast areas of the Southeast were without water, power, phone and internet communication.

More than 150 deaths have been confirmed in the days since Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 storm, including dozens in flood-stricken North Carolina. “Communities were wiped off the map,

Footage shows damage to buildings and roads, and the ruins of the Lake Lure Flowering Bridge, a pedestrianized garden bridge over the Broad River maintained by community members, which was destroyed by the storm.

Early voting in North Carolina is facing hurdles as the impacts of Hurricane Helene continue to devastate communities in the Southeast, blocking roads and disrupting services across the state.