- Megan Drye was sheltering on the high of the house she shared together with her mother and father and her 7-year-old son because the waters from Hurricane Helene rose round them final week in Asheville, N.C.
- All 4 of them have been plunged into the flood when their home collapsed and solely Megan survived
- Her household says they’ve leaned on one another and their religion to make it by
On Friday, Sept. 27, as Hurricane Helene rolled over Florida and deeper into the South, Jessica Turner was texting with sisters Heather and Megan in regards to the uncommon climate of their hometown of Asheville, N.C., a whole lot of miles away.
It was raining. And raining. And raining.
Megan Drye, Turner’s youngest sister, and Drye’s 7-year-old son, Micah, had been dwelling with their mother and father in Asheville. Drye, 39, had simply upgraded her telephone so she was the one one who had cell service throughout the storm, Turner tells PEOPLE.
Drye additionally shared images of the rising water from the roof of their residence.
“We have been simply joking that ‘thank goodness this isn’t a Jonah scenario,’ like within the Bible,” says Turner, 45, an artist who was born and raised in Asheville however now lives close to Dallas. “We have been teasing, saying that God’s answerable for the storm and that they’re going to be okay.”
“We had a lot hope,” she says, “after which we misplaced contact.”
Turner later discovered that round 2:45 p.m. native time on Friday, the Drye household’s historic residence in Asheville, the place 73-year-old patriarch Michael Drye additionally practiced household legislation, “collapsed” into the dashing floodwater from Helene.
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The storm carved a furious path across the Southeast after making landfall in Florida late on Thursday as a Class 4 hurricane. Greater than 150 individuals have since been killed, based on officers and information experiences, and the dying toll continues to climb.
Turner’s sister, nephew and her mother and father, Michael and spouse Nora Drye, additionally 73, briefly sought refuge on the roof of their home in Asheville amid the hurricane — earlier than being plunged into the water on Friday.
Michael, Nora and Micah all died, based on the household. Megan survived.
Turner says now that Megan’s images confirmed the 4 of them on the roof, the place they have been sheltering earlier than the home fell aside. Turner subsequently shared the photographs on social media, in a Facebook post that spread widely on the web, as she sought prayers and assist for her household.
“They’re watching 18 wheelers and automobiles floating by,” she wrote, including, “That is undoubtedly a second when religion is all you might have.”
When Michael, Nora, Megan and Micah went into the water, they have been clinging to one another, Turner believes. (She says she has gotten firsthand particulars from her sister.) “The present was extremely sturdy,” Turner says.
Michael held onto Megan till she “noticed the present take him, and she or he stated he was simply so scared,” Turner says.
Turner says that Nora was holding onto her grandson, too. However when Megan noticed her mom bobbing within the water, the little boy was not together with her.
She screamed, “The place’s Micah?”
“[Megan] stated she’ll by no means ever get the look out of her thoughts. The look of horror on mom’s face was pure defeat,” Turner says. Quickly after, Nora went under the water, too.
Megan later advised Turner, “I feel, Jess, that’s when she gave up as a result of she had misplaced Micah.”
However after Nora and Micah have been separated, Megan later advised Turner, she briefly heard her son screaming within the flood – “Jesus, Jesus, assist me, assist me!”
“All of us three consider that that’s when Christ took him,’” Turner says.
Megan, alone, drifted about half a mile.
“I don’t know the way she did this. After she watched all three of them disappear, she will get pushed additional down after which she grabs onto a tree,” Turner says.
Her sister advised her that she heard the voice of God telling her to let go of the tree, to be nonetheless and to not battle the water.
“She acquired pushed down a bit bit additional and acquired trapped between two tractor trailers and acquired cornered. She fought for 3 hours,” Turner says.
Megan later stated the voice advised her to shed her footwear and jacket as a result of they have been weighing her down, so she did, after which she pushed and climbed till she noticed a police officer, based on her sister.
“Once they lastly rescued her, that’s when she completely misplaced it,” Turner says.
On Saturday, Turner and her different sister, Heather Kephart, traveled to be with Megan.
About 5 dozen individuals have since been confirmed to have died in the Asheville area, although authorities say most of the identities aren’t but recognized.
“We’re struggling a lot with three of these being our household,” says Turner.
“I feel we’d perceive it extra if it was 1000’s,” she says, including, “We’re not indignant, simply — I don’t assume we’re ever going to grasp why.”
Megan’s sisters have launched a GoFundMe to help her, writing together with the marketing campaign message that she “lived a mom’s worst nightmare.”
She told Fox Weather that her grief “is unfathomable. I am sorrowful. I really feel damaged. However what’s the important factor that I take away from grief is the uplifting of all of the prayers that I’ve obtained.”
As she struggled within the floodwaters, Megan stated, it was the spirits of her son and oldsters that buoyed her: “I feel all of them carried me by that second.”
Turner echoes that.
“We simply preserve considering we’re going to get up,” she says. “There are moments after we are so sorrowful.”
However the sisters have clung to their religion and to one another.
“We’ve by no means been stronger. And I feel my mother can be so proud,” Turner says. “I simply know they’d be so very pleased with us proper now.”
Her father, she says, was particularly pleased with the legislation apply signal outdoors their residence. It’s all that is still in Helene’s wake.
She remembers her dad as “one of many biggest males on the planet” and “so sort. He would do something for anyone.”
Her mother — described as “feisty” — labored at Kohl’s but in addition did accounting for Michael’s household agency.
“She was all the time pointing her finger at one thing and telling anyone what to do,” Turner says. “She’s most likely all the best way as much as heaven, telling Jesus what he must be doing.”