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He saves the flood in Asheville, searches for the missing

He saves the flood in Asheville, searches for the missing

ASHEVILLE – Asheville Police Chief Mike Lamb was in tears Oct. 24 at the department’s downtown headquarters.

Lamb spoke to the Citizen Times four weeks after Tropical Storm Helene plunged much of East Asheville, the River Arts District and Biltmore Village underwater.

“I’m sorry. There are many, many emotions,” Lamb said, clearing his throat after a moment.

He recalled many stories of his officers’ rescues along the Swannanoa River on September 27, from Moffit Branch and the Azalea and Swannanoa River roads.

After going door-to-door earlier that morning asking people to evacuate, officers were stationed at various locations along the river, calling in rescue calls to the high-water crew in conjunction with the Asheville Fire Department.

APD and Rapid Water Team Rescued Woman ‘Swimming Downstream’

In particular, Lamb detailed the moment a detective spotted Asheville resident Megan Drye “floating downstream.” Seeing her begin to squeeze between two Conex crates (steel shipping containers), the officer called a quick water crew who pulled her from the river.

Drye was with her parents and young son on September 27 when the family home collapsed into the Swannanoa River. All three died.

Three days later, he was found by the same detective who spotted Drye 7-year-old Micah Drye a quarter of a mile from here.

“It was closure for him,” Lamb said despite his emotions. “(Officers) were able to help a lot of people between the evacuation and the rescue. It was really, you know, they saved a lot of lives that day.

Helene’s numbers breakdown, recovery efforts

Lamb said that in the days immediately after the storm, when cell service was down, city police received an “influx” of emails, many of them from people outside the area hoping to keep their loved ones safe. The officers made a list and first checked those they considered most urgent and vulnerable.

Because phone lines were down, officers personally went to neighborhoods. It took just over a week to go through a list of about 350 people. As of October 24, APD had nine active missing persons cases for Helene, dropped from 60 on October 7.

More: ‘Forever changed’: Asheville vigil pays tribute to those who lost their lives because of Helene

Police determined that of a list of 350 people, three likely died from Helene before their bodies were later found, Lamb said. Six other people are currently known to have died from Helene in Asheville, including three members of the Drye familywho Megan Drye previously described as brave, gentle and warm-hearted.

“There were three others that we couldn’t find initially, but we knew they had gone into the water,” Lamb said. “Of those three, we managed to recover two. There’s another one we haven’t gotten back yet.

More: An Asheville family – including a 7-year-old – died in the Helene flood

APD continues to investigate, looking for activity on cell phones and financial accounts as a precaution. However, the father is now presumed dead.

Fate of missing Asheville resident: ‘Presumed dead’

To locate the only Asheville resident who has yet to be found, police are working with neighbors to try to figure out what happened. A group of neighbors managed to rescue the resident’s two daughters, who were “holding on, trying not to get washed away by the water,” Lamb said.

In an interview with the Citizen Times, Lamb shared the painful reality of the floods: “There’s really no rhyme or reason to where people ended up.”

“From the accounts we had of where people were entering the water, there were a number of different places along the river where they were recovered,” he said.

Lamb said 354 cars were washed into the river along with debris and buildings. Police initially searched cars using drones, ensuring no one was left inside before it was safe to enter on foot.

“I think at one point there was just a massive surge of water that came through,” Lamb said, noting how the river took with it the entire section of the concrete bridge from Azalea Road to Gashes Creek Road, where he remembers walking as a child.

More: An Asheville pharmacist mourned Helene’s apartment because of the flood

The day after the storm, 515 officers from 96 different agencies began riding their bikes through Asheville in groups of 100. City police worked with the North Carolina National Guard, the FBI, New Jersey Search and Rescue and Los Angeles Search and Rescue, using sniffer dogs to search the bodies. area.

Lamb said as recovery continues, there may be more people who died and were buried in the silt.

Grateful for the support of the external police, residents of the city after Helenka

Personnel from numerous outside agencies assisted local police in a variety of ways: from search and rescue operations, to securing barricaded roads, protecting distribution points, and escorting FEMA resources and Duke Power trucks.

Of the APD personnel, five or six “lost everything or had significant damage to their homes,” Lamb said.

Lamb spoke about the emotional burden these officers carried last month and stressed the importance of help from outside agencies that allow city police to take days off. Lamb also expressed gratitude for how community members and neighbors have helped by cutting down fallen trees, providing food to officers or simply writing letters to the police department.

“I’m really proud of the Asheville community because everyone came together,” he said.

More: Photos discovered after Helene’s death tell the story of Asheville-area families

More: A month later, an Asheville family faces Helene’s demise

Ryley Ober is a public safety reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. She is a graduate of Indiana University and was a 2022 reporting intern at the Citizen Times Summer News. Email her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @ryleyober