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. So, on Saturday morning, he got in his vehicle and started driving toward their home,

Hurricane Helene caused extensive damage in the western part of North Carolina. See the map of power outages caused by the storm.

Travel in and out of much of Western North Carolina is nearly impossible after heavy rains and flooding battered the state in the path of Hurricane Helene.