A Georgia man is thanking God after narrowly surviving being stranded in the North Carolina mountains during and directly after Hurricane Helene devastated the state on September 27.
Kyle Vargas of McDonough, Georgia hiked 13 miles on foot through the mountains after being stranded in the Tar Heel state while visiting Ashland with his brother for a work trip.
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“Just to look around and see trees everywhere and cars in sinkholes and stuff smashed…like I never seen anything like that before,” Vargas told FOX 5 Atlanta. “Man, I could cry right now… He just always showing me He got me.”
Kyle Vargas and his brother fled Asheville on foot over concern for his wife after Hurricane Helene. (WAGA)
Vargas said that strangers offered the two men rides along the way, which they documented with video, and God helped him find his way back home to his wife. The two made it home without the use of GPS and after Vargas’ wife had given up looking for them.
“I knew God was just sending people our way,” said Vargas to FOX 5 Atlanta. “All it did was increase my faith in God.”
Vargas credits God with his safe return home after the devastation of Hurricane Helene. (WAGA)
“We didn’t think the storm was going to cause as much damage as it caused on the mountain that it did,” said Vargas to FOX 5 Atlanta. “Basically, we were trapped…we were stuck.”
The trek through the mountains took hours and the brothers had practically no phone service.
Kyle Vargas said he and his brother had to rinse off their boots in a nearby river to remove caked-on mud. (WAGA)
“We walked about 13 miles climbing over trees, walking through the mud that slid down on the road from the landslides, we had to rinse our feet off in a river,” said Vargas to FOX 5 Atlanta.
Jasmine is a writer at Fox News Digital and a military spouse based in New Orleans. Stories can be sent to jasmine.baehr@fox.com
