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WACO, Texas (KWTX) - All across Central Texas people are doing what they can to help North Carolina following the devastation of Hurricane Helene.

The pastor of Calvary Chapel in Waco has helped with many disasters over the last 20 years and now he’s heading to Asheville, NC to lend a helping hand.

Pastor Albert Fuentes is no stranger to helping those in need after a disaster.

“We’ve always gone to disasters when there were hurricanes or tornadoes,” Fuentes said. “We went to Joplin, Missouri when they had their F-5, we went to Katrina way back in the early 2000s.”

In 2020 he was down in Louisiana after several hurricanes when he noticed that food was scarce. This prompted him to start bringing barbeque with him on his trips, which is how the Pastor Fu and Son food truck began.

““The food was such a hit and people would cry and just testify about how blessed they were and so we just thought we would start going down, setting up, and feeding,” Fuentes said.

Fuentes says as soon as he heard about the devastation in Asheville, him and his church immediately got to work.

“We’re hoping to take about 500 pounds and so I’ve been smoking briskets, 10 a day, for the past week,” Fuentes said. “Today we cut the briskets into 4 pieces and vacuum sealed them, that took us about an hour and a half and eight people to do.”

Instead of taking the truck this time, Fuentes says they’re taking everything needed for a mobile kitchen.

“I’m taking a freezer, around six foot freezer, I’m taking a generator, I’m taking gas, and a smoker, I’m taking charcoal, taking tables,” Fuentes said. “Everything they need to set up a kitchen and I’m going to leave it with them. It’ll be there for weeks to come to help them out.”

This Tuesday, Fuentes will be driving up to the Calvary Chapel in Asheville to drop everything off, and he’s already planning to make more trips if needed.

He says the best part of all of this is seeing and hearing people’s reactions.

“When somebody says, ‘man I thank God for you’ you know that’s a privilege,” Fuentes said.

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Artists Maria Andrade Troya and Alice Scott are happy to be in Louisville this weekend for the St. James Court Art Show, away from Asheville, North Carolina, where the reminders of the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene's remnants are still fresh.

Andrade Troya, a potter, and Scott, a jeweler, both use studio space in Curve Studios, which sits on the bank of the French Broad River in Asheville's River Arts District and was submerged by flooding from the storm.

Asheville, in western North Carolina, is situated in the region most devastated by the storm. As of Friday, the death toll in the southeastern U.S. had ticked above 200, according to USA TODAY.

The River Arts District is known as a bustling riverside community where more than 300 artists convene and work. Several art studios, gallery spaces, coffee shops, restaurants and other small businesses reside in the area. In many ways, it was an artist's paradise. But in the aftermath of Helene, only a handful of buildings remain unscathed, Andrade Troya said.

"I've never seen anywhere else in the country where it's just such a dense population of artists," Scott said. "When I first saw the River Arts District underwater, that's what I felt most heartbroken about, is seeing it gone and realizing that the community isn't going to be the same."

The flooding caused by Hurricane Helene pushed the French Broad River's water level to record-setting heights. Until recently, the highest level ever recorded dated back to 1895, when it crested at 23.1 feet. It rose above 24 feet on Sept. 27, according to the National Weather Service.

Curve Studios' entire first floor — where Andrade Troya and Scott's studios are — was swallowed by water after the storm hit. The studio won't reopen, the artists told The Courier Journal in an interview. The owner of the building would like to retire, but the artists agree that returning to work there would be too painful, even if it were possible.

"It would be a stress," Andrade Troya said.

Luckily, neither artists' homes were damaged in the storm, but the artists agreed that being stripped of their studio leaves a void in their lives.

"This is where I spend most of my time," Scott said. "So it feels like I'm homeless."

Despite the melee that has unfolded in their hometown, the pair of artists are happy about the opportunity to set up shop at the St. James Court Art Show in Louisville. When the realization of the storm's severity struck, the artists scrambled to salvage what they could. They both prioritized grabbing finished pieces, knowing that an opportunity to sell them was just a week away.

Scott has attended the show more than 10 times in her lifetime, a tradition that started when she was a child. Her mother, who's also an artist, would sell her art at the show, and Scott would set up a miniature booth to sell her work.

For Andrade Troya, this is her first time in Louisville.

They're both hoping to make some good money to help them rebound from their misfortune. As Scott pointed out, the question of when they'll have another opportunity to sell their work looms large.

"This is the one and only time in the foreseeable future that we can get our work in front of people," Scott said.

Both artists will be located along 3rd Street throughout the event, which runs Friday through Sunday. Andrade Troya can be found at booth 702 and Scott can be found at booth 710. An online fundraiser was launched to help Curve Studios artists replenish their lost materials.

An aerial view of flood damage wrought by Hurricane Helene along the Swannanoa River on October 3, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina.

Mario Tama | Getty Images

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., chided some of the conspiracy theories that have surfaced surrounding the Hurricane Helene recovery efforts in western North Carolina.

“If there are any challenges, call my office,” Tillis said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “We’ll track them down if there are real issues, but quite honestly, most of what I’ve seen out there is a distraction and not helping the core of the effort right here, which is to save lives and start rebuilding.”

Tillis also said that the statements being made about the recovery efforts are coming from people who are not physically on the ground.

His comments come days after North Carolina state senator Kevin Corbin penned a Facebook post asking people to stop the “conspiracy theory junk.” Tillis said that Corbin is right to call people out on the claims.

Claims about the federal response to Hurricane Helene have been coming from all over social media. One of the most prominent pushers has been Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has endorsed former President Donald Trump and made an appearance at the former president’s Butler, Pennsylvania rally on Saturday. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg denounced some of Musk’s claims on X on Friday.

When asked about Trump’s comments that the federal response to the recovery efforts in North Carolina was terrible and that emergency funding was being used on immigrants, Tillis gave a two-pronged response.

“I think that the President is right to say that billions of dollars is being spent as a result of Biden’s failed immigration policies and border policies,” Tillis said. “However, we have the resources that we need, we’re going to have to go back and pass more resources.”

He also noted that, as of this moment, immigration is “not yet” impacting “the flow of resources to western North Carolina.”

At least 215 people had been reported dead, according to NBC News. More than half of the deaths were in North Carolina.

--Rebecca Picciotto and Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.

CANDLER, N.C. — Urgent care facilities have started to reopen providing a crucial lifeline for many people in western North Carolina who for the past week had little access to food, water, electricity and convenient health care in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Elena Gherasim, 42, of West Asheville, said it was a “huge blessing” to have a FastMed Urgent Care open so close to her home after she unexpectedly needed to seek medical attention for her 14-year-old son Saturday morning.

“He took a shower and right after he took a shower, a big rash on his neck started and his face was swollen. When I woke up this morning it was a little worse so I had to bring him,” she said outside of FastMed’s Candler location.

Gherasim, who works at Mission Hospital in Asheville, said the water stopped working at her family’s home about two days after the storm. When the water started working again Friday, her son took a shower.

“I’m guessing contaminated water and he had an allergic reaction,” she said. They were headed to a pharmacy to pick up medication for the teen.

FastMed’s location in Candler opened its doors Saturday. It was the last of five hurricane-affected clinics to open. Asheville’s location opened Friday and the clinic in Hendersonville resumed operations on Tuesday.

Two other urgent care centers — one in Boone and one in Wilkesboro — opened shortly after Helene.

The clinics in Candler and Asheville are using a temporary water system until water in both cities is restored, a company spokesperson said. The Asheville clinic is also operating on a generator.

How long these provisions will last remains unclear, but the company said it was crucial they open as soon as possible.

“We knew that after the storm there’s incredible pressure on the medical facilities in the area. We know that Biltmore Village in particular, in Asheville, was hit particularly hard and we wanted to make sure that folks in that area knew that we were there as a resource as they start the recovery,” FastMed spokesperson Andrew Sawyer said. “When you’re doing recovery, things are going to happen and we want to make sure that health care is easy and accessible for everyone in that region.”

Mission Hospital, the primary hospital in the area which has been serving patients, has been gradually recovering after the storm crippled its water infrastructure. More food has arrived and the facility now has water trucks, mobile bathrooms and handwashing stations.

The Asheville FastMed clinic, situated in the heavily damaged Biltmore Village, was fairly quiet Saturday but treated a few patients Friday. Some streets surrounding the clinic remained closed and power was slowly being restored. A few people filed in and out of the Candler location.

The urgent care center in Hendersonville has been treating about 40 patients a day since reopening, a slightly higher number than usual, according to Sawyer.

Most patients have sought treatment for lacerations, general illness, and bee stings, he said. The clinics also have an uptick in patients needing emergency prescription refills because their primary care office is closed.

“When we reopened after the storm we didn’t know what to expect in terms of patient volume but we knew that we needed to be available,” Sawyer said, adding FastMed’s goal was to provide “convenient, easy access to health care.”

“Folks have lost everything and they need to be able to get care quickly and easily,” he said. “The goal for us is not volume right now, the goal is to be available and to be there for the people in that community that need us the most.”

Mercy Urgent Care has re-opened eight locations in Burnsville, West Asheville, Weaverville, Waynesville, Foothills and Brevard.

Gherasim said the clinic reopening helped her get son quickly seen by a doctor and saved her from having to wait in long emergency room lines at Mission Hospital.

“It is a blessing to have the urgent care very close to our house and be able to get the help you need,” she said.

Minyvonne Burke

Minyvonne Burke is a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News.

The area near the historic Biltmore Estate, in Asheville, North Carolina, was decimated by Hurricane Helene, closing the famous landmark until at least Oct. 15.

The nearby Bilmore Village experienced significant flooding when the Swannanoa River and other waterways overflowed into the streets and businesses, though the estate itself is not reported to have experienced major damage.

"The entrance to Biltmore and other low-lying areas of the property, such as our farm, experienced flooding and damage to buildings. We are assessing structures and roadways in these areas. Biltmore House, Conservatory, winery, gardens, and our hotels received minimal or no damage from the storm", a spokesperson told FOX Business.

The largest privately owned home in the U.S., built in the Gilded Age by George Vanderbilt, the grandson of shipping and industrialist Cornelius "the Commodore" Vanderbilt, is now a popular tourist attraction and family business.

Fourth and fifth generations of Vanderbilt descendants run the day-to-day operations, along with more than 2,000 employees. The 8,000-acre estate houses shops, restaurants and lodging, and it also hosts events.

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Biltmore Village in Asheville, North Carolina

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As of Friday, the storm had already claimed 230 lives with many residents still unaccounted for. In a message to the staff, Biltmore said, "We know connectivity is very limited and want you to know your safety and well-being is our top concern. Please continue to check here for closure information until we are able to repair our internal communications channels.

"We appreciate your patience as we navigate this crisis together, and we are committed to providing updates as they are available."

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Editor's note: The story has been updated to clarify that the flooding damaged the Biltmore Village rather than the Biltmore Estate.