Navy veteran clung to tree for seven hours before being swept away by Helene flooding, says devastated niece
The devastating loss of 75-year-old Navy veteran Bruce Tipton left his niece teary-eyed as she spoke about his legacy.
"Everybody knew him in the community. He'd give you the shirt off his back. He was lovable. He would do anything for anybody that he could. He was a father, a grandfather, uncle, a brother and a friend to everybody here," Annie Meadows, a North Carolina resident, told "Fox & Friends First" as she wiped away tears.
Tipton was swept away by floodwaters from Hurricane Helene after crying for help and clinging to a tree for seven hours.
Neighbors and family members heard his cries and tried to reach him after his trailer home succumbed to the waters from the French Broad River in Marshall, N.C.
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"The water got so high that nobody could get to him before his trailer broke. When the trailer broke, we thought for sure he was down right then. But then 30 minutes, maybe an hour later, he starts hollering for help, and he stayed in the tree for seven hours," Meadows continued.
She added later, "He never anticipated the weather to be like it was. We all grew up on that same street. Nobody in this town in general expected it to ever be like this."
Scott Eastman, one of Tipton's neighbors, told The New York Times, "I’m not going to tell you I’m going to have nightmares about it, but why wouldn’t I?"
He added, "To hear somebody yelling ‘Help!’ for hours and to not be able to get to him? It’s just sickening to me."
After slamming into Florida's West coast and creating catastrophic storm surge last week, Helene barreled north through Georgia, eastern Tennessee, and western parts of South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia, creating catastrophic flooding and, in some instances, reportedly wiping some communities completely off the map.
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Some remote areas in Appalachia remain isolated from help and in need of essential supplies like baby bottles and formula, clothing, canned food items, diapers, personal hygiene products, first aid materials, pet food and life-saving medicines like insulin.
Challenges created by mudslides, rockslides, damaged roads, and rising water levels have forced rescue efforts and supply deliveries to go on in unconventional ways, with a mule packer ranch in North Carolina using its animals to deliver much-needed supplies to mountain communities that cannot be easily reached otherwise.
Those still able to connect with the online world continue to post photos of their missing loved ones with their descriptions and last known locations in hope that someone will lend some information.
At least 190 deaths have been reported as of Thursday morning, making Helene the deadliest hurricane to strike the U.S. mainland since Hurricane Katrina.