Boone, an expert in tax valuation and assessment, is familiar with the devastation in western North Carolina. Boone, originally from Spruce Pine in Mitchell County, traveled back to the area two days after Helene's impact to find his 80-year-old mother and bring her back to his home in Zebulon in Wake County.

“She had already attempted to leave the area and the roads were blocked,” Boone said.

With cell service down, she had no way of reaching Boone or finding an alternate route out of Spruce Pine.

“It’s hard to know exactly where to start”

From his eyewitnesses and conversations he has had with tax officials in western North Carolina, Boone said it is clear that there is a concentrated disaster area from Haywood County north to parts of Watauga and south down to Chimney Rock in Rutherford County there, which he described as the epicenter of the catastrophe.

“Some counties say it's so bad it's hard to know exactly where to start,” Boone said.

These hardest-hit counties will likely rely on other assessors from other areas, particularly coastal counties in eastern North Carolina, who have experience conducting damage assessments after destructive hurricanes, as well as other outside experts, for advice, according to Boone.