USA –  A father floated away in his Jeep as water surrounded his home; a teacher held onto a mattress-turned-raft as her home drifted down the river; and a man was trapped on his apartment building’s balcony calling for help.

They are among the hundreds of people authorities say are still unaccounted for across the Southeast in Helene’s wake.

Helene’s path of devastation across the Southeast has made it the deadliest hurricane to strike the United States mainland in nearly 20 years, with the number of those killed across six states growing to at least 213 by Friday.

Relatives of those still unaccounted for are hoping above all that their loved ones aren’t added to the mounting death toll.

The search for missing people continues Friday as crews work to navigate washed-out roads, destroyed bridges, bloated rivers and flooded towns to reach those in need of help, their efforts hindered in part by ongoing cellular service issues.

It’s not clear how many people are missing. FEMA was still working with state and local officials to confirm that total in the aftermath of Helene, Administrator Deanne Criswell told CNN’s Jim Acosta on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, concerned family members and friends continue looking for those lost.

“How do we get help finding missing family in the area, my brother is missing,” someone wrote on a recent Facebook post from North Carolina’s Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office. Similar posts by worried relatives have saturated social media over the past several days.

More than 200 people in the county were unaccounted for as of Thursday night, and the county’s death toll stood at 72, according to Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller. North Carolina has racked up the highest death toll thus far with 106 fatalities reported. (CNN)…[+]