A chilling photo captures an elderly couple confronted with Hurricane Helene’s apocalyptic devastation from the roof of their Asheville, North Carolina, home moments before they’re engulfed by the rising flood waters.
The haunting image is the final one taken of the Dryes, grandparents in their 70s, before the roof caved in, drowning both of them along with their 7-year-old grandson, Micah.
Their adult daughter Megan, who took the image, survived after becoming wedged on a chunk of debris, although she remains in intensive care.
Their other daughter, Jessica Drye Turner, who shared the harrowing photo on Facebook, had in an earlier post pleaded for someone to save her stranded family members as she sat helpless across the country in Texas. But emergency workers didn’t make it in time.
Helene tore a path of destruction across the south this weekend, up from Florida to North Carolina, leaving a death toll that has already topped 130 in its wake.
Turner tragically found herself among those to lose loved ones in western North Carolina, a region whose cities—like Asheville—often lie in valleys, making them especially susceptible to flooding.
Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty
“They are watching 18 wheelers and cars floating by. In addition, part of the house they’re sitting on is in front of them,” Turner posted before the home collapsed. “They’ve called 911 but they aren’t the only ones needing rescue. This is definitely a moment when faith is all you have.”
She posted an update announcing the deaths in her family on Monday.
“I cannot convey in words the sorrow, heartbreak and devastation my sisters and I are going through nor imagine the pain before us,” she wrote. “Please lift my sister who lost her son up in prayers and my other sister and myself as we come together to somehow comfort her and get through each moment banded together.”
She was particularly affected by the loss of her young nephew, whose body was found a quarter-mile from the destroyed home.
“That was and still is a gut wrenching moment. First hearing that,” Turner wrote. “He was such a perfect little boy. He wanted to be a superhero. And now he is.”
A GoFundMe page has so far raised over $70,000 to help the Drye family.
Rescue workers continue to search for the as many as 600 people who remain unaccounted for in the regions affected by the storm.
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