The department said that any civilian car on the road would hinder emergency responses. More than 400 roads were affected by the closure alert, including two major arteries for the region: Interstate 40 and Interstate 26, which Mr. Moody said were too damaged for cars to pass.

Road closures caused by surging rivers and disrupted communications in the wake of Hurricane Helene on Saturday isolated western North Carolina in what officials are calling a "catastrophic natural disaster.

Widespread road closures continue to plague Northeast Tennessee, Southwest Virginia and Western North Carolina. News Channel 11 has reached out to state transportation agencies to obtain comprehensive lists of road closures in the region.

Gas shortages, downed power lines, spotty phone service and blocked roads made rescuing residents and assessing damage a nearly impossible task across much of western North Carolina, a day after Hurricane Helene drenched the region with historic amounts of rainfall.

Hurricane Helene is expected to impact Asheville the afternoon of Sept. 26, but a rain system has already caused closures across the region.

Hurricane Helene has already produced flash flooding and dangerous winds across the region, and it has come on the heels of heavy rains, downed trees, sporadic tornadoes and some minor flooding due to a separate system that entered the region from the west.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation has issued an alert that all roads are closed in the western region of the state.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation reports that "all roads in Western North Carolina should be considered closed," due to storm damage and flooding after the remnants of Hurricane Helene

With so many roads out and power and internet connections down, a full accounting of the damage done is a work in progress.