Mariel Williams
editor@mitchellnews.com
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services released an updated list of victims of Hurricane Helene last week.
Hurricane Helene (downgraded to a tropical storm after slowing down over land) struck Mitchell County the last week of September 2024, leading to catastrophic flooding, landslides and wind damage.
As has been noted in previous editions of the Mitchell News-Journal, it can be difficult to decide how to count flood victims, as it is not always clear when and where people died in a moving river.
For instance, the DHHS list puts Knox Petrucci as having died in Mitchell County and Felix and Lucas Wisely as having died in Yancey County. However, all three were together on the Mitchell County side of the North Toe River when they were swept away by the flood. Because of this, Mitchell County government counts all three as Mitchell County deaths.
Additionally, Lucas and Felix’s mother, Alison Wisely, is not listed on the DHHS list at all, even though Mitchell County also officially counts her death as local. Alison Wisely, although washed away with her family in Mitchell, was found dead in Tennessee.
Stephen Ayers, another flood victim washed from Mitchell County to Tennessee, is also not counted on the state government’s list.
The tri-county Helene deaths confirmed by the N.C. DHHS are as follows:
Mitchell County
Knox Emerson Petrucci, Michael Gordon Whitehouse (According to his obituary, Whitehouse died at his Bakersville home on Oct. 7, a week after the storm. No cause of death is listed.)
Yancey County
James Ernest Andrews, Robert Bruce Athey, Janicke Therese Glynn, May Collette Greene, Juan Martin, Anastaslia Novitnia Segen, Michelle Lynn Quintero, Dmytro Segen, Susan Strickland, Lucas Odhran Wisely, Felix Alexander Wisely
Avery County
Billy Joe Calloway, David Allen Carver, Melissa Sue Guinn, Robert Butch Ross, Charlene Wilber