Drew McLean was amazed by Tropical Storm Helene’s strength when it passed over their mountain home in North Carolina the last time his parents saw him.
He and his mother saw that two trees had broken apart in the front garden: one had been forced into Mr McLean’s car by rushing water, which caused it to topple over.
“God is still on his throne,” Mr. McLean, 45, reassured his mother amid the mayhem.
Since he seemingly wandered off into the storm on Friday of last week, Mr McLean has been missing for a week.
His parents were wiping tears from their eyes and growing more and more afraid of the worst on Thursday as they sat on the back porch of their remote house in the Black Mountain hills, hoping he would be located.
Many people in western North Carolina and other areas devastated by Hurricane Helene, including the McLean, are in a precarious and vulnerable situation. Because of the extent of the destruction and the lack of phone and internet access following the storm, families are unaware of what happened to their loved ones.
Over 225 people have died as a result of the hurricane in six states, but North Carolina officials warned the situation was moving too swiftly to determine the number of people who are still missing. More than 200 people have been reported missing in Buncombe County, which includes Black Mountain among its numerous tiny villages west of Asheville, according to officials’ statement on Thursday afternoon.
Many people have been requesting wellness checkups from the authorities. West of Asheville, a representative for Haywood County stated that since the storm, officials had carried out roughly 860 of these inspections. Additionally, authorities in Rutherford County, southeast of Asheville, verified that over 800 individuals had been recovered safely.
Though not all of the requests can be fulfilled because certain places are still inaccessible, they are continuously coming in.
Rutherford County spokeswoman Kerry Giles said it has been challenging to estimate the number of missing persons as authorities are using lists that have been collected from social media, emergency calls, and emails. The work can get more difficult if there is a loss of power and cellphone service.
“It’s a long process, and that’s just for one person,” Ms. Giles said.
When there are no quick fixes, it can be devastating.
Athol, Massachusetts resident Ranee LaPointe, 46, has been looking for her stepmother, 70-year-old Charlene Wilber, and father, 67-year-old Russell Wilber. Since telling the staff at the campground in Newland, North Carolina, on September 26 that they were going to wait out the storm, the pair has gone missing.
A few days later, Mrs LaPointe stated, the workers at the campsite realised that the couple was missing, Mrs Wilber’s car was “completely destroyed,” and their camper had vanished. Mrs LaPointe hasn’t been able to sleep for longer than an hour at a time since then. Her nights are spent searching through internet images and videos for any sign of the couple.
Mrs LaPointe claimed that the absence of solutions has been crippling. It is harder and harder to believe her relatives are still alive with every day that goes by.
“I was hoping that I’d get a call in the first few days, and I’d be able to go down and say, ‘Don’t ever do that to me again,’” Mrs LaPointe said through tears.
In an attempt to find her buddy Joseph Spencer Ramirez, 36, who is homeless in the Asheville region and seems to have vanished last weekend, Virginia Crider, 34, of Laurel Hill, Florida, said she has been putting in “every waking hour” of effort.
According to Mrs Crider, she has been posting in Facebook groups for missing people and creating TikTok videos in addition to contacting Mr Ramirez’s social media connections.
“Looking for a homeless person on a regular day in a regular city would be difficult,” she said, choking up. “How do you even begin when there’s so much destruction and so many missing people? The footage I’ve seen is devastating, and all you can think is that there’s no way he survived.”
Among the desperation-filled posts on Facebook, there are some positive moments. Someone posted about a mom and her daughter who went missing, saying, “BOTH FOUND SAFE.”
Volunteers in Black Mountain helped the McLeans on Thursday as they searched the steep slopes and their kid, but they were unsuccessful once more.
“I couldn’t find anything but swamp,” said one man who gave his name only as Axe and had come from Pennsylvania to help with relief efforts.
While several volunteers went along a winding, hilly road in search of Mr McLean, Jon Bridgers, the founder and CEO of the volunteer rescue company Cajun Navy 2016, used a drone to try and find him. Few people were hopeful that Mr. McLean would be discovered alive a week after the storm. On Friday, it was unable to get in touch with the family or their neighbours for an update.
His father had been expecting bad news on Thursday.
“God’s hands are on Drew if he’s still on earth,” Ron McLean, 73, said. “And if he’s not here any longer, he’s already in his hands there.”
Living in an apartment downstairs from his parents, Mr McLean’s parents speculate that he may have autism spectrum disorder but he has never had a diagnosis. Last Friday morning, he spent time with his father creating a temporary dam in the driveway out of concrete blocks and pebbles. The water swiftly overflowed the dam as it surged down the mountain.
Mr McLean left the property at some point during the morning. It was an action he had never taken before.
“We’ve never not known some sense of where he was,” said his mother, Fori McLean, 70. “This is not his character.”
No matter how much his parents call or text, nothing changes. It was the day after his disappearance that his mother texted him, “Please come home.” “To check if we’ve heard from you, we are periodically turning on the generator.” Mom & Dad, we adore you.
The message was undeliverable due to the at best patchy mobile service.
The volunteers, some of whom were drenched in sweat and mud, rested after spending most of Thursday searching for Mr. McLean. A member said that certain areas of the ravine they had been investigating resembled a wasteland.
The McLeans stayed on the porch up on the mountain, pictures of their kid strewn across a table. The neighbours kept dropping over, one carrying an energy bar and prescription medication.
The McLeans said that information regarding their son had been recorded and that they had been checked on by officers from the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office. Upon observing Ron McLean’s extreme distress, a constable enquired as to whether he still felt secure leaving his firearms at home.
“I have lost a lot of hope,” Ron McLean acknowledged on Thursday, recounting his conversation with the deputy. “But I have a responsibility to still be here for my family.”
