HHundreds, if not thousands, of harrowing stories of search and survival have come to light in the wake of Hurricane Helen, which devastated communities in six southeastern states after making landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region. It appeared on.
Heading into the weekend, authorities reported at least 215 deaths in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Virginia, with the death toll rising as recovery efforts continue. It was the deadliest hurricane in the United States since Katrina, when levees burst in New Orleans, killing nearly 1,400 people.
Hundreds of photos of missing relatives and friends are posted every day on Facebook groups dedicated to recovery efforts, and surviving relatives and friends are asking community members to help search for them.
Local residents in the worst-hit areas are also compiling a list of missing persons. People can add the names of relatives and friends they are looking for, along with whether they have been found or are still missing. As of Friday evening, more than 1,400 names were still listed as missing.
Here are some of those stories.
rod and kim ashby
Before the storm hit North Carolina, Kim and Rod Ashby drove to their riverside home in Elk Park to pick up the house and valuable family items that had been left in the garage before Hurricane Helen. Organized and stored safely.
Ashby’s home state of North Carolina was the hardest hit, with at least 100 people dead.
The couple, who live in Sanford, arrived at their home in the mountains on the evening of September 26th. When I woke up the next morning, I saw the surrounding area flooded and realized that the corner pillar of my house had collapsed. They needed to get to higher ground quickly.
Kim, a middle school math teacher, Rod, a retired Navy veteran, and their three dogs stepped out the window onto the balcony and prepared to jump. Kim’s daughter Jessica Meidinger told the Guardian: “The whole house slid into the river within seconds, before they could.”
Rod grabs Kim and the dogs and places them on a mattress floating in the house, but the house is filled with rising water rushing down the river. The couple is separated when the house suddenly hits a bend in the river and crashes. The two were soon reunited, and Rod hung Kim and the dogs from the wall of the house as it washed away.
That was until they hit a tree. A sudden jolt caused them to plunge into the water again. Rod could no longer see Kim. He shouted for her and saw one of his dogs paddling in the water. But Kim was nowhere to be seen.
Meidinger said Rod grabbed a tree branch and pulled him out of the water, screaming as he frantically searched the riverbank for his wife and dog.
The 58-year-old walked 16 miles until he found a neighbor who could help with the search. More than a week has passed and Kim has not been found.
Meidinger didn’t learn his mother was missing until the following Saturday, when one of Rod and Kim’s neighbors went on Starlink and was able to contact them via Facebook. Kim’s family and more than 100 people participated in the search.
“To be honest, I expected to hear something yesterday. It’s been like holding my breath all day,” Meidinger told the Guardian on Friday, before adding: . Do puzzles, watch comedy specials, or just to distract yourself. But honestly, the biggest thing is that we’re all in this together, because right now the silence is deafening. ”
Russell and Charlene Wilbur
Lanny Lapointe, 46, is waiting for news about her father, Russell Wilbur, and his wife of 25 years, Charlene Wilbur. Wilbur and his wife, in their late 60s to early 70s, disappeared after the campground in Newland, North Carolina, where they were staying flooded, following Helen.
Lapointe said his father and wife live outside of Johnson City, Tenn., but have a seasonal campground with RVs in Newland. They own a painting and remodeling company in Tennessee and were vacationing at a campground with their dog when the flood occurred.
They were last seen by campground staff the night Helen came ashore. However, they have not been seen or heard from since then.
“We immediately started posting pictures of everything on social media,” Lapointe said. “We were filling out forms with all the crowd sourcing, rescue, Fema teams, everything we could.”
They tried everything, Lapointe said. They tried to ping her father’s pacemaker and connected to Charlene’s watch, which monitors her heart rate. Nothing has been successful.
“Several people are searching for them in the basement every day,” Lapointe said Friday. “They search tirelessly for hours a day, from the time we wake up until dark and dawn.”
She added that knowing whether they are alive or not keeps her up at night because of the lack of “finality.”
Lapointe acknowledged he was told to prepare for the worst. But “there’s still a little bit of the thought of, ‘What if the kids were locked up in a little cabin or something, or what if the father found something and made a place for them?’ .”
Some families had already faced the news they feared most.
Colette and Samira Zubi
Colette Zubi was informed Tuesday that her 28-year-old daughter Samira Zubi, who lived in Asheville, North Carolina, one of the hardest-hit areas, had been killed when her apartment building was washed away in the storm.
Colette said she remembers texting her daughter at 10:30 a.m. last Friday when the flooding began. Samira told her mother that the water had reached the second floor of her apartment and that her neighbors were also waiting for rescue.
Rescuers arrived at the scene at 1 p.m., Collette said, adding that by then water had reached the third floor where Samira was.
“Apparently the situation was very chaotic. Rescuers were trying to rescue residents,” Colette said. “They were throwing ropes to residents and her building started to shift off its foundation.”
Samira, a graphic designer for a T-shirt printing company in Asheville, was unable to grab the rope and was swept away, Colette said.
Samira’s family and friends anxiously awaited news for several days, and her boyfriend, who also lives in Asheville, scoured rivers and riverbanks looking for Samira and their three cats.
On Monday night, Samira’s friend Molly received information that Samira’s body had been found and informed Colette.
“We finally got through to the sheriff at the command center. He called the coroner and was told they weren’t allowing anyone to visit,” Collette said. “So we went home, and that night the local police came to our house and informed us that she had been identified.”
Colette still doesn’t know when her daughter’s body will be released.
“I don’t know how long it will take to get her home,” she said. “It was just devastating. The lack of coordination on the ground, the communication, the blame by the leadership, it’s totally unacceptable. It’s the people who are holding it all together there right now. Rallying for the community, finding people, donating. We will transport people where they need to go and provide them with a place to stay.”
Colette recalled her daughter as “a very talented, very creative, intelligent, creative soul” who was always “supportive in whatever her family and friends needed”. I am doing it.
