Final Photo Shows N.C. Grandparents Trapped on Roof

(AP)

The last photo of Jessica Drye Turner’s parents shows them waiting to be rescued on the roof of their North Carolina home amid the rising floodwaters of Hurricane Helene. Her mother was in a coat and surrounded by blankets, with the current just steps away from the base of the roof.

Turner, who was hundreds of miles away in Texas, put out a desperate call for help on Facebook on Friday, begging for someone to save them, as well as her sister and her 7-year-old nephew, after they became stranded on the roof of their Asheville home.

As the storm pummeled the area, Turner wrote that her family members were “watching 18-wheelers and cars floating by” as they waited for aid to come and included the picture of her loved ones.

“They’ve called 911 but they aren’t the only ones needing rescue,” she wrote on Friday. “This is definitely a moment when faith is all you have.”

Sadly, rescuers were not able to reach them in time. In an initial update, Turner wrote that the roof collapsed and her parents, who were both in their 70s, and nephew Micah were washed away and drowned in the floodwaters.

In an update on Tuesday, she clarified that she learned that the roof did not collapse, but the house did.

“I need to clarify some details about what occurred,” Turner wrote. “My updates transpired after I was told information. … What actually transpired is worse but I feel I need to let all of you know.”

“Mama was clinging onto micah and daddy was struggling to hold onto Megan,” she said. “He kept panicking and pushing her under. She had hold of a tree and was trying to hold on to him. The water took him. She saw him being taken by the current and then mama goes by her. Megan yelled, ‘where’s Micah?!!!’ And she thinks that’s when my mom gave up bc she lost him. The look on my mother’s face was absolute horror and defeat. Megan looks behind her and sees Micah. He was so scared. And she heard him yell, ‘Jesus!!!!! Please help me!!!’ And we believe that’s when he was taken.”

Turner then recounts what happened to her sister, Megan Drye, who had taken the final picture of their parents and survived the ordeal. Drye has since been reunited with Turner and their other sister Heather.

“Megan heard a voice tell her to let go of the tree,” she said. “She told us, ‘that’s the last thing I wanted to do. My head was above water and I’d go under if I let go’. She obeyed and was taken by the current until she was lodged between 2 trailers for 3 hours until someone finally saw her. Those 3 hours were a story in their own with a voice talking to her the entire time. She fought, and fought and fought until rescued. Once that happened, that’s when she completely crumbled. We believe Micah, mama and daddy waited until Megan was rescued before being received into the hands of Christ.”

On Monday, Turner said Micah’s body was found about a quarter-mile from where his mom was rescued.

“That was and still is a gut wrenching moment,” she wrote. “First hearing that. He was such a perfect little boy. He wanted to be a superhero. And now he is.”

Turner asked for people to lift her sister Megan up in prayer “as we come together to somehow comfort her and get through each moment.”

Her parents’ bodies are still missing and Turner said she doesn’t know if they will be found.

Through her grief, Turner is trying to find the silver lining of losing her family to the powerful storm system.

“If his and my parents deaths lead many to Christ, then their deaths were worth it,” she said. “I will praise the goodness of God when he takes death to lead others into new life.”

Hurricane Helene’s death toll currently stands at 133 people, including 40 in Buncombe County, where Asheville is located. However, that figure is expected to rise, as rescue teams reach isolated towns and communications networks are restored.

The storm is being blamed for fatalities in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia after making landfall late Thursday.

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