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Asheville Rescue, Missing Persons Search

Asheville Rescue, Missing Persons Search

ASHEVILLE. Tears filled the eyes of Asheville Police Chief Mike Lamb on Oct. 24 at the department’s downtown headquarters.

Lamb spoke to the Citizen Times four weeks after Tropical Storm Helen submerged much of East Asheville, the River Arts District and Biltmore Village.

“I’m sorry. A lot of emotion,” Lamb said, clearing his throat after a pause.

He recounted several stories of rescues by his officers along the Swannanoa River on Sept. 27, from Moffitt Branch and Azalea roads and the Swannanoa River.

After officers went door-to-door telling people to evacuate earlier that morning, officers were stationed at various locations along the river, calling rescuers to the Swift Water team in partnership with the Asheville Fire Department.

APD and swift water team rescue woman ‘floating in river’

Specifically, Lamb detailed the moment a detective spotted Asheville resident Megan Dry “floating down the river.” After seeing her begin to get wedged between two Conex boxes (steel shipping containers), the officer called for the swift water team, which pulled her out of the river.

Dry was with her parents and young son on Sept. 27 when the family’s home fell into the Swannanoa River. All three died.

Three days later, the same detective who spotted Drya found him 7-year-old Mika Dry a quarter of a mile away.

“It was closure for him,” Lamb said through emotion. “(Officers) were able to just help a lot of people between the evacuation and the rescue. It was really, you know, they saved a lot of lives that day.”

Helene number breakdown, recovery attempts

In the days immediately following the storm, while cell service was down, city police received an “influx” of emails, many from people outside the area hoping to keep their loved ones safe, Lamb said. Officers drew up a list and first checked those they thought were the most urgent and most vulnerable.

When the phone lines were down, officers went to the neighborhoods in person. It took a little over a week to go through the list of about 350 people. As of October 24, APD had nine active missing persons cases related to Helen. down from 60 on 7 October.

more: ‘Forever changed’: Asheville vigil honors those who lost Helen’s life

From a list of 350, police determined three likely died from Helen before their bodies were later found, Lamb said. Six other people are known to have died from Helen in Asheville, including three members of the Dry familywho Megan Dry previously described as brave, gentle and kind.

“There were three others that we couldn’t find at first but knew they had gone into the water,” Lamb said. “Of these three, we were able to recover two. There is one more that we haven’t restored yet.”

more: An Asheville family, including a 7-year-old child, died in Helen’s floods

APD continues to investigate, looking for activity on cellphones and financial accounts just in case. But at the moment, the father is considered “presumably deceased”.

Missing Asheville man’s fate: ‘presumed deceased’

To find one Asheville resident who has yet to be found, police are working with neighbors to find out what happened. A group of neighbors managed to rescue the resident’s two daughters, who were “holding on trying not to be washed away by the water,” Lamb said.

In an interview with the Citizen Times, Lamb shared the dire reality of the flood: “There’s really no rhyme or reason to where people ended up.”

“In terms of where people were going into the water, we had a lot of different places along the river where they were pulled out,” he said.

Along with the wreckage and buildings, 354 cars were washed into the river, Lamb said. Police initially used drones to search cars to ensure no one was inside before it was safe to enter on foot.

“I think there was just a massive surge of water at one point,” Lamb said, pointing to how the river swept away an entire section of the concrete bridge from Azalea Road to Hashes Creek Road, where he remembers going as a child.

more: An Asheville community pharmacist mourned after Helene floodwaters destroyed an apartment

The day after the storm, 515 officers from 96 different agencies began driving around Asheville in groups of 100. City police worked with the North Carolina National Guard, the FBI, New Jersey Search and Rescue and Los Angeles Search and Rescue using the area to search for the dog carcasses.

Lamb said there could be more people who died and were buried in the mud as the recovery progresses.

Grateful for the support of the outside police, the residents of the city after Helen

From search and rescue to securing barricaded roads, guarding distribution points and escorting FEMA resources and Duke Power trucks, personnel from numerous outside agencies assisted local police in a variety of ways.

Of the APD officers, five or six “lost everything or had significant damage to their homes,” Lamb said.

Lamb talked about the emotional toll these officers have endured over the past month and emphasized the importance of assistance from outside agencies allowing city police to take days off. Lamb also expressed appreciation for how community members and neighbors have helped by cutting downed trees, providing food for officers or simply writing letters to the police department.

“I’m really proud of the Asheville community because everyone came together,” he said.

more: Photos discovered after Helen tell the story of families in the Asheville area

more: A month later, the Asheville family moves forward amid Helen’s devastation

Riley Ober is a public safety correspondent for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. She graduated from Indiana University and was the 2022 Citizen Times Summer News Reporting Intern. Email her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @ryleyober