WATCH: House floating away and collapsing in North Carolina as Helene floods area

WATCH: House floating away and collapsing in North Carolina as Helene floods area

Residents of Asheville, North Carolina, described “complete pandemonium” in their city after Helene brought several feet of floodwater and pushed large debris into streets overnight.

Watch video above: House floating away and collapsing in Asheville as tropical storm Helene floods area

Samuel Hayes said he woke up with several calls from his employees telling him about fallen trees on their roofs, water pouring into their homes and mudslides.

“Complete pandemonium around the city,” Hayes told CNN’s Isabel Rosales. “It’s going to take us a long time to clean this up.”

Hayes and another Asheville native, Maxwell Kline, described the River Arts District neighborhood as being inundated with oil-contaminated floodwaters.

“A lot of businesses are completely wrecked … I’ve never seen anything like that since I’ve lived here. It’s absolutely a tragedy,” Kline said.

Gas pumps were down and they lost power, internet and cell phone service for hours, they said. “Can’t get anything right now – no food you can buy, no gas, nothing,” Kline said.

About 25 miles outside of Asheville, a lifelong resident of Hendersonville said she was traumatized by the onslaught of Helene. “I never knew anything like this could happen here,” Avery Dull, 20, told CNN.

Dull and her neighbors were “extremely unprepared” for the deluge, and she saw at least one person busting out of their window, she said. But her apartment is still intact because it’s on the second floor, Dull said.

“Luckily we were on high ground, but those people lost everything,” Dull said. “Half of my neighborhood is underwater and dozens of families are trapped inside of their homes. Cars have been completely submerged and totaled, and power is out across the county.”

Elsewhere in North Carolina, shattered glass, rocks and mud covered one couple’s car after a landslide triggered by Helene came crashing down onto Interstate 40 as they were driving through Black Mountain.

Kelly Keffer said her husband saw something coming from the corner of his eye and then they started to hear pounding on top of the car, so he stepped on the gas. Then, the whole side of the mountain started sliding, Alan Keffer said. Alan thought they would be able to speed past it, but it slid faster than he thought.

Within less than a minute, “the rocks, the dirt, everything hit us. It was scary,” he said. The back window was completely shattered, Kelly said.

In Erwin, Tennessee – just over 40 miles north of Asheville, North Carolina – flooding submerged houses, buildings and roadways.

Erwin resident Nathan Farnor said he evacuated the area on Friday afternoon, when his home was slightly above water level, then he fled to an area a few miles away that is at higher ground.

“The power remains out, and it appears that most businesses, homes, and campgrounds near the river have suffered a total loss,” Farnor said, “Sadly, the situation does not appear to be improving.”