A Virginia couple had a close call with Hurricane Helene’s fury while traveling home through the North Carolina mountains.
Alan and Kelly Keffer described barely escaping a mudslide along the interstate in Black Mountain, N.C. on “The Faulkner Focus” Thursday.
“When I looked out the window, the mountain was coming down with the trees and rocks,” Alan told host Harris Faulkner.
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As the wall of earth bulldozed down onto the highway, Kelly said, “I looked back in the car and just saw the mud on the door and kept looking back and saw that the glass was shattered.”
Hurricane Helene made landfall last Thursday as a Category 4 storm, but quickly barreled its way towards the Carolinas. The storm brought unprecedented flooding and landslides to the western North Carolina region over the weekend.
The Keffers were driving home from vacation when they got caught in Helene’s wrath.
“We just figured it would be a little bit of rain, maybe some wind, but it would be fine. And it wasn’t until we got on I-40 that we saw that, whoa, trees are blowing down. The highways that are getting closed,” Alan shared.
He added the pair were only driving around 35 miles per hour due to heavy rainfall.
“As soon as I saw it, I just stepped on the gas and my first thought was, I wonder if this is going to hurt. And three seconds later, it was over,” Alan said.
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“It was pretty scary because I didn’t see what was happening. I just heard everything hitting the car, and I thought they were big rocks because that’s what it sounded like. And I was expecting the roof to cave in. So we’re very blessed to have gotten through it and everybody else that survived. We’re very thankful for that,” Kelly said.
Kelly added there were no major injuries caused by the specific mudslide.
The death toll from the hurricane climbed to at least 200, and that number is expected to rise in the coming weeks as officials continue their rescue and recovery efforts.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) arrived in Western North Carolina Monday after Gov. Roy Cooper announced President Biden had approved federal resources.
Since the worst of the storm on Friday morning, local and state officials, as well as local and out-of-state volunteer rescue organizations — such as Samaritan’s Purse headquartered in Boone and Cajun Navy 2016 located in Louisiana — had been working to send personnel and supplies up the steep mountain roads severely damaged by Helene in western North Carolina.
Rescue teams have also been deployed to parts of eastern Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and Florida — areas that were also devastated by the storm.
“We just can’t imagine what they’re going through. We came out of it safely, but many people did not. And we’re just continuing to lift that area, all the rescue teams that are coming in, all the supplies that are being delivered to those areas, we’re just lifting them in prayer for their safety,” Kelly said.
Helene’s death toll for North Carolina and Tennessee is unknown as authorities continue to respond and get in touch with families before publicizing official numbers, but the lack of data roaming and cellphone service is making that difficult.
Fox News’ Stephen Sorace and Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.
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