Hundreds of people are still missing following Hurricane Helene’s ravaging of the Southeast, including a North Carolina woman who was swept away along with her husband, their vacation home and the couple’s three dogs.
Kim Ashby, 58, disappeared on Friday along with her husband, Rod Ashby, her daughter, Jessica Meidinger, told USA TODAY on Wednesday. The married couple of five years drove from Sanford, North Carolina to their vacation home in Elk Park to retrieve some precious family items from the property’s garage, Meidinger said.
The final time Meidinger recalled speaking to her mother and stepfather was Thursday night.
Meidinger and her family did not know the Ashbys had gone missing until one of the couple’s neighbors in Elk Park informed them by using a Starlink satellite to send a Facebook message. Meidinger said she learned that her mother and stepfather were inside their vacation home when flooding caused the property to slide into a nearby river.
The couple’s vacation home being affected by flooding is an indicator of how dastardly Hurricane Helene was: Rod Ashby had designed the property to prevent flood water from entering it.
“The way he structured the house was the garage is on the bottom and he put doors on both sides so he could lift (them) and allow water to flow through underneath,” Meidinger said.
Ashby’s vacation home slides into river
Everything was working fine until Rod Ashby heard a crack on Friday morning, which prompted him to go outside and check it out. He noticed the corner pillar of the home had been taken out, according to Meidinger. Before the couple and their three dogs could reach high ground, the house had slid into the water, she added.
To remain afloat, the married couple got on top of a mattress in the back room of the home and rode down the river at a speed of about 30 to 40 miles per hour, Meidinger said. At some point, the home hit an embankment and collapsed on top of the couple.
Rod Ashby managed to get himself out of the debris, but Kim Ashby was 10 or 20 feet away from him, according to Meidinger. The couple was separated, but not for long, as a wall from the home landed on its side allowing them to grab ahold of it. The two managed to stay on the wall until they hit a spot of trees, which caused them both to fly into the water.
“That was kind of the last that we saw of my mom,” Meidinger said.
Rod Ashby is ‘really broken up’
Once underwater, Rod Ashby fought for air long enough until he managed to grab a tree branch that was leaning over the river, according to his stepdaughter. He then pulled himself out of the water, but when he looked for his wife, she was nowhere to be seen.
A shoeless Rod Ashby went to go find help because he figured his wife had gone downstream, Meidinger said. He then ran about 10 miles until he reached his neighbor’s home and eventually contacted Meidinger and other family members.
“Physically, he’s got some non-life-threatening injuries,” Meidinger said about her 58-year-old stepfather. “Mentally, I mean… you have your wife in your arms one minute and the next she’s gone. You can’t describe what that must do to a human being. He’s really broken up and just anxious to get back out there to keep searching.”
Rod Ashby is currently in Pittsboro, North Carolina with Meidinger and her family as he holds out hope that his wife will come home safe. Meidinger said authorities have sent out dogs and have thermal imaging drones currently searching for her mother.
Kim Ashby: The ‘heart of the seventh grade’
The support Meidinger and her family have received has been immense, specifically from the middle school Kim Ashby taught math at and the town of Elk Park.
“They’ve been reaching out regularly and said that they’re very much a family at that school and (Kim Ashby) is kind of like the heart of the seventh grade,” Meidinger said about SanLee Middle School. “They’ve been doing prayer circles.”
Residents in Avery County, where Elk Park is located, have also reached out and offered help to Meidinger and her family.
“It’s just been surreal, I mean just the level of giving that we’ve received,” Meidinger said about Elk Park.
If Kim Ashby is somewhere safe, Meidinger said the biggest thing she wants her mother to know is her husband is “safe and OK.”
“That’s something that she’d be most worried about.”
