In the wake of Hurricane Helene, the relentless search for missing victims in North Carolina's hardest-hit regions has reached a standstill.
A month has passed since the devastating storm swept through, leaving in its wake a trail of destruction and a dwindling number of leads to follow.
According to The New York Post, the hurricane claimed the lives of 42 individuals in Buncombe County, which includes Asheville and Swannanoa, two of the most severely affected areas. Ten people remain unaccounted for, leaving officials and families grappling with the grim reality.
Ryan Cole, a former fire chief who now serves as the Assistant Director of County Emergency Services, shared his somber perspective. "There are going to be some people that we have lost in this storm that we will never find," he said. "And thats a very hard thing to come to grips with, not only for the families but also for the responders who are dedicated to bringing those families closure.
In the month since Hurricane Helene struck North Carolina, Cole's department has been bolstered by hundreds of state and federal search and rescue personnel. They have been tirelessly responding to approximately 600 missing person cases. However, the number of active cases has now dwindled to fewer than ten, as per the Buncombe County Sheriffs Office. With leads drying up, state and federal staff have withdrawn from the area.
Cole stated, We have conducted all the targeted searches we can based off the information we have. If we get additional information, well go back to work.
Among the missing is Matt Darrohn, a 40-year-old homeless man last seen in Asheville. His sister-in-law, Amanda Darrohn, expressed her growing concern. As the days go on it gets a little harder, she said. Every day that goes on that no ones seen him, it makes it less likely someone is going to find him.
Hurricane Helene, which made landfall in Floridas Big Bend on September 26, claimed the lives of at least 232 people across six states. The storm rapidly moved north, unleashing approximately 40 trillion gallons of water. North Carolina bore the brunt of the storm, with 95 fatalities reported.
The torrential downpour triggered catastrophic flooding, ravaging the mountainous region and decimating large parts of Asheville. Cole noted the ferocity of the floodwaters, which carried some bodies more than five miles from where they were last seen, a phenomenon he described as very, very unusual for the mountainous terrain.
The aftermath of the storm is a grim tableau of destruction. Most of the time somebody is not buried under the mud theyre buried under piles of debris trees, houses, cars all that stuff just piles up somewhere like a bend in a river, Cole explained.
The recovery process is painstakingly slow, with debris sometimes piled up to 30 or 50 feet high. In some cases, victims were not found intact. It could have been multiple things that were found to create a single victim, Cole said.
Nearly 30 people are still missing across North Carolina, with hundreds of roads closed and thousands of homes without power or reliable water. Asheville, home to nearly 94,000 people, is under a water boil advisory.
Despite the grim circumstances, Cole remains committed to the recovery efforts. After a month of meticulous searching, he anticipates that Buncombe County Emergency Services will resume normal operations within two weeks. However, he estimates that it could take at least five years for the region to fully recover from the storm's impact.
While the search for victims may be winding down, Cole assured that the moment a new lead surfaces, the search will resume. Our number one objective is to find every victim, he affirmed, underscoring the unwavering commitment to bring closure to the affected families.
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