For one North Carolina family, a raging torrent becomes a death trap

By Bernie Woodall

SWANNANOA, North Carolina (Reuters) – Before the Dixon family realized the danger, the creek behind their North Carolina home had become a raging torrent. Before they could escape, Jessica Dixon said, her father was swept away to his death.

The Dixon family is among thousands around Asheville who were caught by surprise and touched by tragedy when Hurricane Helene swept hundreds of miles inland after making landfall on Florida’s Panhandle. The storm brought what weather experts say was once-in-a-generation rainfall to the picturesque mountain region, destroying roads and bridges, cutting off water and power, and leaving dozens dead.

Jessica, 40, recounted her family’s tragedy from the driveway of a friend in Asheville, near her hometown of Swannanoa in an area that once seemed far from the extreme weather that has struck other parts of the U.S. in recent years.

She said as the water flooded their house and rose to chest level last week, her father, George, told the family that they had no option but to flee. None of the five – George, his wife, Jill, Jessica, or her two teenaged sons, Parker and wheel-chair-bound Kaden – made it to the car.

“Dad went to the back to grab my mom’s purse where the keys were attached,” Jessica said. “Then, all I could hear was Parker saying, ‘Grandpa’s gone. Grandpa’s gone.’ And he was washed away.”

Jessica thinks her father, who she said was around 70 years old and getting ready to celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary next week, was pulled by the flood waters through big windows in a bedroom along with the furniture and everything else.

“It all went, Woosh!” she said.

The rest of the family then retreated to another bedroom farther from the overflowing Bee Tree Creek on the other side of the house. Jessica said the water was nearly to her chin.

She said that she and the other family members spent six or seven hours clinging to a large leather guitar case and a dresser to keep afloat in the creek water, which had turned fetid when a septic tank flooded.

   “That guitar case saved our lives,” she said.

When the water gradually receded, the family was able to climb out windows of the front of the house. The front door was blocked by a refrigerator, Jessica said.

As they walked down the nearly washed-out road, firefighters picked them up and brought them to the Swannanoa Fire Rescue substation. Her mother, who Jessica said has arthritis, stayed behind with neighbors who lived at a higher elevation, away from the creek.

Jessica eventually found her father’s body a short way downstream from their house. The body was hung up in debris and fallen trees.

Law enforcement officials said the body of a man who appeared to be about 70 was retrieved on Sunday night from the creek near the Dixon family’s house. They could not confirm that it was the body of George Dixon.

(Reporting by Bernie Woodall in Swannanoa, North Carolina; Writing by Frank McGurty; editing by Paul Thomasch and Leslie Adler)