Helene will go down in history not just for the immense damage it caused but also the lives lost – 43 in Buncombe County alone.
That statistic will forever be associated with a disaster once unimaginable for a landlocked, mountainous region.
Like you, we at Asheville Watchdog listened to the news briefings in those early days with deepening distress as the death toll climbed higher and higher. We committed then to tell the stories of those 43 souls, not just how they died but how they lived.
It was a difficult undertaking – the emotional toll it took on our reporters and photographer, the challenge of finding relatives of the deceased, and the task of simply identifying the dead.
More than 12 weeks after the storm, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, whose medical examiners determine storm-related fatalities, still have not released the names of the deceased.
To find them, I scoured death records on the Buncombe County Register of Deeds website every weekday, opening more than 850 death certificates, one at a time, to find those with “Helene” as a cause.
Only 41 of the 43 death certificates have been filed. NCDHHS will not release the names listed on the other two, citing ongoing death investigations.
The Watchdog’s 10-part Lives We Lost series, which kicked off Oct. 19, not only told the stories of the storm’s casualties; it provided the first accounting of where and how the deaths occurred. We now know that more than half were in two areas of the county – 17 in Fairview and nine in Swannanoa.
Landslides were responsible for most of the deaths, 23, while drowning accounted for 13. Three people died from diseases hastened by the storm, including a cancer patient unable to attend his chemotherapy session, and two from blunt force injuries caused by falling trees.
But most of all, we learned about the lives of our neighbors who perished in harrowing conditions.
Couples gone, families’ losses staggering
Seven married couples died, including Judy Dockery, 64, of Swannanoa, known as “Mama” or “Aunt Judy” who loved serving, cooking and caring for others, and James Dockery, 63, a Buncombe native and preacher who enjoyed making others laugh; Michael Drye, 73, an attorney specializing in family law, and Norah Drye, 73, a devoted mother who along with her husband were leaders at Biltmore Church; and Robert Ramsuer, 70, a Vietnam War veteran who worked in maintenance at Cracker Barrel, and Nola Ramsuer, 70, whose daughter described her as soft spoken and sweet and who enjoyed baking birthday cakes for friends and coworkers.
These photos show what Craigtown looked like before Helene and in its aftermath. Eleven members of the Craig family, for which the community is named, died in landslides. // Photos provided by Mekenzie Craig
Four couples were among the victims of the Craigtown landslides in Fairview: Ronald Craig, 68, a retired brick mason who loved hunting, fishing and gardening, and Sandra Craig, 69, a state worker and great cook; Lois Souther, 73, an Asheville native who loved hummingbirds and flowers, and Jimmy Souther, 73, whose passion was working on cars and lawnmowers; Daniel and Evelyn Wright, 82 and 81 and married more than 65 years, who cherished their relatives and church family at Cedar Mountain Baptist Church; and Freddie Pack, 66, an electrician and U.S. Coast Guard veteran who enjoyed the outdoors, and Teresa Pack, 60, a pharmacy technician who loved the Asheville Tourists and taking her grandchildren to Dollywood.
Several families lost multiple relatives. The Dryes’ grandson, Micah, 7, also died when their house along Swannanoa River Road collapsed.
Besides the four couples in Craigtown, who were all related, three others from the same family died in those landslides. Angela Craig, 64, a retired state worker, loved animals, gardening and her family. Tony Garrison, 51 and a battalion chief with the Fairview Fire Department, was described as a humble public servant who enjoyed woodworking, fishing, and his family. His nephew, Robert Brandon Ruppe, 37, had a big heart and could light up a room with his sense of humor.
The other victims of the Craigtown landslides were Chase Garrell, a 28-year-old auto mechanic described as selfless and a loyal friend, and Marsha Ball, 40, who graduated from a program serving students with disabilities and whose hobbies included coloring on her iPad.
Floodwaters from a creek behind George Dixon’s Swannanoa home ripped the back portion off and swept him away. // Watchdog photo by Starr Sariego
Washed away in deadly floodwaters
Rapidly rising floodwaters that spilled over the banks of creeks and the Swannanoa River killed more than a dozen people.
George Dixon, 72, a renowned blacksmith described by fellow artists as among the best in the country, was swept away after a flooding creek tore off the back of his Swannanoa house with him in it.
Lyn McFarland, 68, an outgoing real estate agency owner with a wide circle of friends, was last seen with his beloved dog, Poco, standing on a piece of his riverside home as it bobbed downstream.
Omar Khan and his neighbor, Samira Zoobi, were stranded on a balcony of their apartment complex on River’s Edge Road when the building broke away and spun down the Swannanoa. Khan, 44, a pharmacist and father of two, was described by his wife as compassionate with a pure heart and sense of innocence. Zoobi, 28, a graphic designer at Asheville T-Shirt Co., was described by her best friend as her “confidant, therapist, best advice giver, voice of reason.”
James Harbison, 71, drowned in floodwaters while crossing a creek in Swannanoa to visit a relative. A welder, he loved to sketch cartoon characters and had been a paratrooper in the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division.
Lisa Plemmons, 52 and a cook at an Asheville nursing home, had been staying in her car at a riverside campground when rising waters swept it away. Plemmons took time off from work to care for sick relatives and loved preparing meals for her extended family.
Norman McGahee, 73, died when water from the river and a creek combined into a torrent and washed away his Swannanoa home. A Vietnam War veteran and Asheville native, he had owned a flooring business, and loved music and the Carolina Panthers.
Kim Kutscher Stepp, 65, drowned when floodwaters swept away her Fairview home. Her grandson survived by clinging to a tree. A Buncombe County native, she worked as an office administrator for Asheville Cardiology and loved Buc-ee’s, her dogs and family.
Gabriel Gonzalez, 52, had gone to work at the Ingles distribution center near the Swannanoa River, where his body was later found. Co-workers called the El Salvador native “the happy one” because he always sang as he loaded tractor-trailers.
Jody Henderson, 63, had rented a cabin at the KOA campground along the Swannanoa with his dog, Bullet, that collapsed in rising water. His sister described him as extremely loving but said he struggled with bipolar disorder and was often homeless.
Calvin McMahan, 63, had been homeless for years and was staying under a bridge near the Swannanoa. The oldest of 10 children and a father of two, he loved to travel and preach to people he met.
John David Keretz, 69, drowned; his body was found near Echo Lake about a mile from his home in Fairview. A financial planner, he was an armed services veteran.
Landslides, falling trees, disease complications
Three people died from landslide injuries, but the circumstances were unavailable.
Patrick McLean, 45, of Black Mountain, enjoyed painting, illustrating and photography and admired global peacekeepers.
Jessica Kirby, 36, also of Black Mountain, was a home health aide and mother of two.
Cathy Jo Blackburn Minish, 52, had gone to Fairview to stay with a friend. Her daughter described her as “really funny and outgoing” and said she loved crafts, travel and trips to the beach.
Two died from falling trees, including Timothy Moore, 60, who had gone to clear one tree on his Woodfin property when another toppled onto him. He was a year from retirement from his job as a deliveryman for Pepsi and loved his motorcycle, the rock band AC/DC and his two daughters, one of whom found his body.
Bobby Stokely, 57, was struck by a falling tree clearing brush in north Asheville a month after the storm. A resident of Maggie Valley, he enjoyed hunting and fishing, John Wayne movies and helping others.
Three died of diseases exacerbated by the storm.
The cause of death for Patricia Radford, 84, was cardiovascular disease with “utilities failure” and Hurricane Helene listed as contributing conditions, according to her death certificate. A former bank manager, she lived in a nursing home and was described as a loving mother and grandmother.
Brian Carter, 78, died of complications from cancer with “inability to attend chemotherapy session” and Helene listed as contributing conditions on his death certificate. Originally from Guyana, he was a self-employed janitor.
Lula Jackson, 63, died from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with Helene as a secondary cause. A mother of two, she loved her pastor and church, Worldwide Missionary Baptist.
Latest victim: Independent, polite, kind
In all, The Watchdog’sLives we Lost series profiled 40 of the storm’s victims. Another fatality, that of Sean O’Connor, recently became public with the filing of his death certificate on Dec. 12, more than 10 weeks after the storm.
O’Connor, 64, had been homeless and came to AHOPE day shelter for supplies about once a month, said Alanna Kinsella, homeless services director at Homeward Bound.
“He would ride in on his bike, and we’d get him the supplies he needed, and then we wouldn’t see him again for a while,” Kinsella said.
She described him as independent, resourceful, polite and kind. “He was always willing to share something with somebody, hold the door open, smile, say, ‘Good morning,’ ” Kinsella said.
O’Connor’s body was found the same day, Sept. 30, and at the same location as McMahan’s, along the Swannanoa near the flooded Brother Wolf Animal Rescue. Kinsella believes they had been together.
“Sean was one of those people who really tried to make a minimal impact on the world and just really use what he needed for his survival,” Kinsella said. “He was an amazing human.”
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Sally Kestin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter. Email skestin@avlwatchdog.org. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-01 13:32:00
(The Center Square) – Directions on curriculum measured age appropriate and access in public libraries to materials considered harmful to minors are in a proposal at the North Carolina House of Representatives.
Parental Rights for Curriculum and Books, also known as House Bill 595, adds to state law a section for age-appropriate instruction for students; a human growth and development program for fourth and fifth graders; and says reproductive health and safety education shall not happen before seventh grade.
Rep. John A. Torbett, R-Gaston
NCLeg.gov
The bill authored by Rep. John Torbett, R-Gaston, and filed Monday additionally has sections on instructional materials and clarification of “defenses for material harmful to minors.” Public library access for minors is in a fourth section.
Gender identity instruction, a buzzword of recent election cycles, is prohibited prior to students entering the fifth grade. The proposal extends that to prior to the entering seventh grade.
The bill would require parental consent to learn about some elements associated with sex education – infections, contraception, assault and human trafficking.
State law allows schools the option to adopt local policies on parental consent for the reproductive health education.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-03-31 16:37:00
(The Center Square) – Judicial warfare is eroding the confidence in Americans’ justice system leaving a blight on justice itself, says a North Carolina congresswoman who leads the Rules Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C, is speaking out against judges blocking the president’s decisions as granted in the Constitution ahead of a Tuesday congressional hearing.
“As of late, we have certainly seen a slew of rulings by rogue judges that surpass their own constitutional authority,” she said in a post to social media Monday afternoon. “This is judicial warfare in the flesh. If it is not remedied in a commonsense and expeditious fashion, these exercises in partisanship will do further irreparable damage to the nation and to the confidence of Americans in our justice system.”
More than a dozen orders from President Donald Trump – more than in the entire time Joe Biden, Barack Obama and George W. Bush served as presidents – have been thwarted or attempted to be blocked. Among the judges in the spotlight is U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, a pivotal figure in deportation of people accused of being in gangs in addition to just being named to preside in a case involving military operations and a messaging app.
Boasberg, appointed by Bush to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in 2002, was nominated to the federal bench by Obama and confirmed in the Senate 96-0 in 2012.
Boasberg on Wednesday issued and on Friday extended a temporary restraining order that prevents Trump from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport people believed to be part of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. A hearing, Judicial Overreach and Constitutional Limits on the Federal Courts, is at 10 a.m. Tuesday to be conducted jointly by the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence and the Internet, and the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government from within the Judiciar Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives.
California Republican Darrell Issa is chairman of the former committee, Texas’ Chip Roy the latter. North Carolina Democrat Deborah Ross is a minority member of the former; North Carolina Republican Mark Harris is a majority member of the latter.
Witnesses scheduled include former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Cindy Romero, a victim of criminal activity believed perpetrated by Tren de Aragua in Aurora, Colo. Also on the invite list are witnesses from the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation.
Other federal judges drawing fire from supporters of the president include Biden appointees Amir Ali, Loren AliKhan, Deborah Boardman, Angel Kelley and Brendan Hurson; Obama appointees Paul Engelmayer, Amy Berman Jackson, John McConnell and Leo Sorokin; Bush appointee Joseph Laplante; Bill Clinton appointee William Alsup; and Ronald Reagan appointees John Coughenhour and Royce Lamberth.
“Without question,” Foxx said, “exceeding constitutional mandates as a matter of judicial philosophy does nothing more than blight justice itself.”
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-03-31 15:21:00
(The Center Square) – Wildfires continued to burn Monday in the Carolinas, though a sign of optimism arose with a burning ban lifted in 41 South Carolina counties and measured rainfall in both states.
Largest of the fires is Table Rock in Pickens and Greenville counties of South Carolina. The Black Cove fire is burning in North Carolina’s Polk and Henderson counties, the Rattlesnake fire is burning Haywood County, and the Alarka 5 fire is in Swain County.
South Carolina’s Horry County at the Atlantic Ocean and North Carolina border, and the northwestern counties of Spartanburg, Greenville, Pickens and Oconee remain under a burning ban. In North Carolina, all 100 counties have a ban in effect.
The Table Rock fire size is about 13,191 acres in South Carolina and 574 in North Carolina, the Forestry Commission of the former said. Containment is about 30%.
The Persimmon Ridge fire is 2,078 acres in size with 64% containment. Rain Sunday into Monday measured nearly 1 inch.
The Covington Drive Fire in Myrtle Beach is about 85% contained and in mop-up and strengthened firebreaks stage.
In North Carolina, the Black Cove complex of fires are 7,672 acres in size. It includes the Black Cove (3,502 acres, 36% contained), Deep Woods (3,971 acres, 32% contained) and Fish Hook (199 acres, 100% contained) fires. Rainfall overnight into Monday helped the battle.