Firefighters killed by a fallen tree as they rushed to stamp out a blaze. A retired father with plans to travel abroad drowned in his coastal Florida apartment. Factory workers swept away by floodwaters after hours holding on desperately to a semi-truck.
Hurricane Helene and its remnants have killed at least 162 people since the storm made landfall along the Florida Gulf Coast before barreling through multiple states, unleashing record rain and unprecedented flooding across the entire Southeast. With hundreds still missing throughout the region, and exhaustive searches underway, officials expect the death toll to rise.
Storm-related fatalities have been reported in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Virginia. The victims include first responders, parents, grandparents, children.
Here are stories of some who lost their lives:
A courthouse security officer in Macon County, North Carolina, was found dead after his truck was swept away by floodwaters while he was on his lunch break.
“This is one of the most difficult releases we have ever had to make,” the Macon County Sheriff’s Office posted on social media Monday. At around 11:30 a.m. Friday, the post said, a 911 caller reported a truck in an overflowing river. Witnesses said they saw someone in the truck before it was submerged. The Nantahala River runs through the area.
The truck matched the description of one owned by Jim Lau, a deputy with the sheriff’s office, and his coworkers soon realized he hadn’t returned from lunch, the post continued. Multiple agencies searched on foot, on the water and with drones, but the search had to be called off because of nightfall.
Lau’s body was recovered the following morning when the search resumed. An investigation is ongoing.
“Jim was very liked and respected within our department,” the post read. “He was known to be a hard worker, dependable and he jumped in whenever help was needed.”
The post asked for people to pray for Lau, his coworkers and loved ones. “Continue to pray for western North Carolina as a whole,” the post read. “The tragedy that surrounds our mountain communities is unimaginable.”
Two firefighters in Saluda County, South Carolina, were killed on their way to a blaze when their firetruck was struck by a fallen tree, authorities said.
Chief Chad Satcher, 53, and firefighter Landon Bodie, 18, were en route to an active scene when the incident happened early Friday, the Saluda County Fire Service said in a Facebook post.
The loss is “devastating,” the post said. Saluda County is a community of about 18,800 people an hour west of Columbia. Satcher and Bodie were working with the Circle Volunteer Fire Department, the post said.
“We would like to thank our community, state and nation for the outpouring of comfort and support during this difficult time,” the post said. “Please continue to keep our firefighters and families in your thoughts and prayers as they begin to heal from this loss.”
In an earlier post, the department called Satcher and Bodie, who weren’t immediately identified, as “two dedicated members who loved their communities and neighbors enough to make the ultimate sacrifice.”
Two women were killed and several others are missing after a massive flood engulfed the Tennessee factory where they worked, forcing them to hold on to a semi-truck that eventually tipped over and sent several people into the rushing water.
The deaths of Bertha Mendoza, 56, and Monica Hernandez, 45, were made public by the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, which said it has been in touch with their respective families.
Both women were in a group of several workers at Erwin’s Impact Plastics who clung to a semi-truck for hours, waiting for help as the swollen Nolichucky River raged around them. When the truck tipped over several of the workers were swept away by the floodwaters.
Mendoza was separated from her sister as the two tried to stay afloat, according to a GoFundMe page dedicated to her. Her body was found Sept. 29. Mendoza has not been publicly identified by officials.
Mendoza was described as a loving wife, mother, sister, daughter and grandmother. “She was loved dearly by her family, community, her church family, and co-workers," her GoFundMe page said.
Hernandez is survived by her husband, Daniel Delgado, and her three children, Angel, Carlos, and Felix, according to a GoFundMe.
"This sudden and unexpected loss has been devastating to us, her family and loved ones," the GoFundMe, which raised over 23,000 as of Wednesday, said. Her family asked for donations to cover Hernandez's funeral expenses. It was her wish to be buried in Mexico next to her late daughter, Maria Fernanda, the GoFundMe page said.
At least three other workers remain missing days after the Friday incident, which is being investigated by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Impact Plastics employee Jacob Ingram told the Knoxville News Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network, that managers wouldn’t let employees leave and had told them only to move their cars. The company denies the allegations.
Chris Wright, police chief in Blackshear, Georgia, a town of about 3,500 a couple of hours southwest of Savannah, said Vernon “Leon” Davis and his family “are just good people.”
Davis, a firefighter for more than 30 years, lost his life Friday morning after he and other responders worked to remove a downed power line as Hurricane Helene began to descend on the region. The 69-year-old was killed when a tree fell on his vehicle as he left the scene.
“You really won’t ever meet a finer guy,” said Wright, who has known Davis for decades. “Leon would do anything for anybody. He was always volunteering his time to help people. He was 69 and he could outwork most 30-year-olds.”
Davis is survived by his sons, Scott and Kevin, who is also a firefighter. He’s also survived by his wife of 47 years, Shirley.
An obituary posted by Pearson-Dial Funeral Home said Davis “never let a chance to help someone slip past him.” He valued his sons and grandsons, “his pride and joy,” and “so loved taking his grandsons ‘mudding’ on his side-by-side,” it added. When he died, he was “doing what he loved, helping our community, as Hurricane Helene ravaged our city.”
Davis had worked for Ware State Prison, leading its inmate firefighting team before retiring and joining the Blackshear Fire Department as its assistant chief.
The tight-knit community is still reeling, Wright said, but has banded together after being “hit pretty hard.”
“This is one of the most caring places you’ll ever see,” Wright said. “There’s a deep pride for the community … Churches here, instead of having services on Sunday, a lot of them sent people out to help people clean up.”
A 71-year-old man who had plans to visit his home country of Ireland was found dead in the bedroom of his apartment on the Florida Gulf Coast.
Aiden Bowles, a former attorney, lived in Indian Rocks Beach, a city in Pinellas County, between Clearwater and St. Petersburg. In a statement, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Department said Bowles “appeared to have drowned from the rising water that entered the residence.”
Originally from Glanmire, Ireland, Bowles moved to the U.S. over three decades ago, according to the Irish Examiner. He had recently made plans to visit his home country in the near future, the outlet reported, citing social media posts by his son, Sam.
Bowles' son told the RTE, an Irish public service broadcaster, that he called his father around 10 p.m. Thursday and Bowles said “everything was fine and the storm had already passed him.”
“The next morning around 9.30 a.m., I got a call from the police to say my father was deceased in his home and there was about eight to 10 feet of water surrounding it,” he told the outlet.
A woman in South Carolina was killed Friday morning when her car was swept away in a rush of floodwater, authorities said.
Karen Denise McCall, 60, was discovered Saturday by a helicopter search team that spotted her overturned Toyota sedan in a wooded area near a heavily flooded road. Her family had reported she was missing after she didn't pick up a family member and no one had heard from her.
McCall lived in Anderson, a city of 28,106 people located in northwest South Carolina.
She was known to her five grandchildren as "Nona," had a generous spirit and would share "all that she had with no expectation of recognition," an obituary said. "She will be missed."
Contributing: Tyler Whetstone, Knoxville News Sentinel; Terry Benjamin II, Greenville News
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