RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN/AP) — Deaths in North Carolina from Hurricane Helene hit 57 just in Buncombe County, officials in the county announced Tuesday afternoon as desperate residents of the storm-battered mountains lined up for water and food, hunted for cellphone signals and slogged buckets from creeks to flush toilets. Emergency workers toiled around the clock to clear roads, restore power and phone service, and reach people stranded by the storm, which will likely have a death toll topping 60 in North Carolina. Earlier Tuesday afternoon state officials said 42 had died from the Friday storm that devastated the mountains. Pilot flying supply, rescue missions in western North Carolina ordered out under arrest threat Right now there are 92 search and rescue teams working around the clock to try to find people who are still alive, according to North Carolina Emergency Management. Duke Energy crews made some progress on Tuesday with power outages at 272,672 — down by 100,000 from noon Tuesday. Marshall, NC - September 30 : Workers, community members, and business owners clean up debris in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Marshall, North Carolina on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images) Duke Energy reported hundreds of miles of lines and substations are damaged, including a substation in Madison County, which will have to be rebuilt due to damage it sustained. State officials said all UNC-Asheville students will be evacuated in the next six days as the university is in the so-far hardest-hit county—Buncombe—in the mountains. “This will probably go down as the worst disaster in North Carolina history," North Carolina Agriculture Secretary Steve Troxler said at a Tuesday news conference at the Western North Carolina Farmer's Market. Active-duty U.S. military units may be needed in the long-term post-Helene recovery in western North Carolina, particularly as local water systems remain offline, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said. ASHEVILLE, USA - SEPTEMBER 30: A view of the damaged area at Asheville along with the western part of North-Carolina is devastated by the heavy rains and flooding after Hurricane Helene in Asheville, United States on September 30, 2024 (Photo by Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images) Cooper said Tuesday at a media briefing that during a meeting with President Joe Biden on Monday the president “gave the green light” to use U.S. military assets in the near future. People throughout the mountains were told to drink only boiled, bottled or treated water as more than two dozen water plants remained closed as of Tuesday and not producing water. That includes Asheville, where city officials have said restoring full-system service could take weeks as repairs needed for treatment facilities and pipes are extensive. “We know that this crisis will likely be a sustained crisis because of water system issues,” Cooper said. “So we know that this is going to have to be a continuing operation. So I want to make sure we get every single resource that we possibly can into North Carolina for what may be a long haul to make sure that we’re continuing to get water and supplies all across western North Carolina.” The North Carolina National Guard already has a large presence in the region in the storm’s aftermath, with 800 members activated. More than 20 guard aircraft have been used to ferry supplies and perform other duties. The University of North Carolina at Asheville will remain closed until Oct. 14 and will not restart classes until Oct. 28 at the earliest in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, the school's chancellor said in a social media post on Tuesday. While the public university in western North Carolina’s largest city received minimal structural damage from the historic flooding and winds, it’s lacked electricity, running water and internet service since last Friday, Chancellor Kimberly van Noort’s post said. The liberal arts and sciences school has about 3,000 students. About 1,300 students were on campus when the storm hit. All of them were relocated within 72 hours, the post said. Classes at two other UNC campuses in the region struck by the storm — Appalachian State University in Boone and Western Carolina University — are canceled through Friday.