Miracle: Family’s home washed away by mudslide; 11-year-old rescued three hours later with help from dog
By Nate Stanley
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TRANSYLVANIA COUNTY, North Carolina (WYFF) — A Transylvania County family is still recovering after a mudslide from Hurricane Helene destroyed their home, trapping an 11-year-old under rubble for three hours.
“Then it crashed on my face, and I couldn’t see anything,” 11-year-old Jamie Parker recalls the terrifying while stuck under rubble for three hours after a mudslide from hurricane Helene trapped him.
His grandmother, Donna Johns, recalls her family sitting at home when the mudslide hit.
“I’m just sitting at the dining table and there was kind of like a rumble. And then all of a sudden, I turned around, and I see walls coming at me, and a refrigerator,” Johns said.
The home was completely destroyed, lifted off its foundation and sent it barreling down a hill before crashing into dirt and trees. Jamie, sitting next to his sister Jema on their couch, was caught under thousands of pounds of rubble.
“If I moved my lower half at all besides my hands in my head, my whole body, that my whole lower body was hurt. The ceiling fan was making it where I couldn’t move this leg right here,” he said.
He described how he was stuck with his hands above his head.
“A railing was hitting my side right here and, I was stuck like this. I was stuck like this the whole time. I could move my other leg, but it was stuck in a pocket. But my other leg was asleep, and it was hurting really, really bad.”
Still covered in rain and rubble, his sister Jema was able to find a hole to crawl out of.
“She had a full hole with the microwave in front of her that she could just move,” Jamie said.
Then, with the help of the family’s dog, rescuers were able to take Jamie out of the rubble.
“[I] lost my toenails looking for the boy. I was just running around in the red like an idiot looking for him, trying to find him,” Micheal Johns said. “The dog, he got on top of the pile and started scratching, and he led the fireman [to Jamie].”
Nearly a month later, the family is left with nothing. Donna said the home only had $4,000 left on its mortgage.
“The homeowner’s insurance has denied the claim because it’s a landslide, mudslide,” she said.
Now, they’re staying in a rental property for the time being.
“We don’t have no choice, you know? We have no choice. I found myself at 56 being homeless. And, you know, we’re just kind of trying to have a little faith,” Johns said.
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