A 75-year-old U.S. Navy veteran clung to a tree for several hours calling out for help amid floodwaters from Hurricane Helene in Marshall, North Carolina, but he was eventually swept away and died.
Bruce Tipton’s niece told Fox & Friends First that he was well known in his community and a very giving person, Fox News reported on Friday.
“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,” said Annie Meadows.
Neighbors and relatives heard him crying out for help but were unable to get to him. The trailer he lived in also became a victim to the rising waters from the French Broad River.
On September 27, neighbors Wanda and Huston Allen were on their porch and heard Tipton’s cries, the Asheville Citizen Times reported on Thursday.
“He was calling for help for five hours, hanging in a tree,” Wanda said. “He was saying, ‘Help me, help me.’ I walked down the railroad track and heard it.”
According to Meadows, no one in the area anticipated the devastation the storm would bring.
“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,” she said.
Video footage shows communities from Georgia to North Carolina where the storm swept through leaving washed out roads, knocked out power, mudslides, and destroyed homes:
According to an NBC News report on Friday, at least 215 people have died as a result of the storm while hundreds remain unaccounted for as cleanup efforts are underway.
“More than a week later, some residents and communities remain isolated, hundreds of thousands are without power, and spotty service has made communication difficult,” the outlet said.
In Beech Island, South Carolina, an elderly couple died in bed together as strong winds from the storm caused a tree to fall on their home, Breitbart News reported on Thursday.
