FOX Weather Correspondent Robert Ray reports live from a snowy Erie, Pennsylvania, where another round of heavy snows and strong winds are coming Thursday.
Americans across the country faced some extreme – and a few historic – weather events in 2024.
A mother, a factory employee, a sister, a horse trainer and a weatherman are just some of the many individuals who narrowly escaped the clutches of those weather events and survived to tell the tale.
Despite having their lives spared, some of them ended up losing what they held most dear.
Here are their stories:
‘I feel broken’: North Carolina woman loses son, parents to Helene
Meghan Drye was with her son and parents in Asheville, North Carolina, when Hurricane Helene struck in late September. The storm produced floods high enough to reach the eaves of their home, forcing them to seek refuge on the roof. However, the floods became so powerful that they broke the home apart, sending Drye, her son and her parents in separate directions downstream. Only Drye survived.
“My grief today is unfathomable. I’m sorrowful. I feel broken,” Drye said. “But what is the main thing that I take away from grief is the uplifting of all the prayers that I have received.”
Three members of a North Carolina family, including a 7-year-old boy, died in the disastrous flooding from Helene. Now, the survivors share their story of immense grief and comforting faith.
‘Just doesn’t seem fair’: Employee at Impact Plastics in Tennessee loses coworkers in Helene floods
Robert Jarvis watched several of his coworkers at Impact Plastics in Erwin, Tennessee, be swept downstream in Helene floodwaters. He questioned why he and his colleagues at the plant were forced to work despite the deteriorating weather conditions outside and their pleas to leave the plant.
“It hurts knowing that they didn’t make it, and I did,” Jarvis said. “It just doesn’t seem fair to me that they didn’t make it.”
IMPACT PLASTICS EMPLOYEE RECALLS HELENE FLOOD THAT KILLED COWORKERS
Following the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, authorities are investigating Impact Plastics’ plant in Erwin, Tennessee, where numerous workers were swept away by floodwaters.
‘I know she was cold’: FOX Weather meteorologist rescues woman from Helene floods in Atlanta
FOX Weather Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen was covering Helene’s impacts in Atlanta, Georgia, when he heard a woman cry for help. He looked to see that she had driven into floodwater and became trapped. Van Dillen notified authorities and then jumped into action. He pulled the woman from her vehicle and waded through chest-deep water to bring her to safety.
“The water is like 80 degrees. It’s not cold, but I’m freezing right now,” Van Dillen said. “She was sitting in there by herself, strapped into her car. So I know she was cold.”
WATCH: FOX WEATHER METEOROLOGIST RESCUES WOMAN FROM HELENE FLOODWATERS IN ATLANTA
FOX Weather Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen bravely rescued a woman who had driven into floodwaters in Atlanta early Friday morning. Carrying her on his back through chest-deep water, watch as Van Dillen, a towering 6-foot, 1-inch man, demonstrated incredible strength and courage during Hurricane Helene coverage.
‘Everything was just gone’: Woman, her sister survive EF-3 tornado in northeast Kansas
Brandi Henry and her sister were lucky to be alive after a major tornado devastated their community of Westmoreland, Kansas, in late April. The National Weather Service classified the twister as an EF-3 tornado with wind speeds of up to 140 mph. It destroyed nearly two dozen homes and severely damaged another 13.
“It was loud. Everything was happening all at once,” Henry said. “My sister was bawling. And it just, once everything was done and over, we had come outside, and everything was just gone.”
KANSAS EF-3 TORNADO SURVIVOR SAYS SIRENS FAILED TO SOUND BEFORE DEADLY STORM STRUCK WESTMORELAND
Devastated residents of the Kansas town of Westmoreland are starting to sift through the rubble after a deadly tornado barreled through the community on Tuesday afternoon.
‘Orange smoke around us’: California woman saves dozens of horses from Mountain Fire
When Robyn Fisher heard that several horses were in danger of the Mountain Fire in Ventura County in Southern California, she headed straight into the fire zone with a trailer in tow. She and her team ultimately spent the next two days responding to pleas for help from those in the equestrian community, and risked their lives to brave the wildfire and billowing smoke to rescue their horses.
“It was a lot more dire than I had anticipated,” Fisher said. “Little did I expect it to be as dire and smoky and escalated as it already was. I was quite nervous… I mean, all you could see was orange smoke around us.”
WOMAN HELPS MAKE DARING RESCUE OF DOZENS OF HORSES TRAPPED IN CALIFORNIA’S MOUNTAIN FIRE
Robyn Fisher tells FOX Weather she had to race through smoke and flames to rescue several horses threatened by the fast advancing Mountain Fire that burned in Southern California earlier this month.