North Carolina family reeling after mother swept away from husband’s arms in Helene’s floods

PITTSBORO, N.C. — A North Carolina family is reeling while one of their own is missing after Helene’s devastating floods.

Kim Ashby, 58, is among the hundreds still unaccounted for in western North Carolina after her home was swept away by raging floodwaters.

Ashby, a seventh-grade teacher, was with her husband Rod at their newly completed dream home in Elk Park near the Tennessee border when Helene’s torrential rains began Friday.

After breakfast, Rod looked outside and saw one of the footers attached to the house was getting loose, his family members told FOX Weather. He ran up to his wife and said they had to evacuate right away.

That was when debris hit the house, and it went into the river, taking the Ashbys with it. Rod tried to hold onto Kim, but he lost his grip, and she was swept away, family members said. 

Rod was found safe hours later, more than 2 miles from the house, after escaping the river. He even managed to help others in need of rescue.

Kim remains missing.

‘A happy, loving soul’

Her daughter and daughter-in-law are among family members now with Rod at a family home in Pittsboro, holding out hope that their mother can be found.

“We’re doing the best we can,” Jessica Meidinger told FOX Weather. “Just kind of banding together, waiting to hear news. And without each other, I don’t know how we would be, but we’re able to kind of lean in just to have that camaraderie with each other.”

Meidinger said her mother is caring, giving and selfless.

“She’s just a happy, loving soul,” Meidinger said. “She’s known as Mama Kim to a lot of people, not just to her children. So she’s an incredibly vibrant individual that just spreads joy.”

They said Rod Ashby is distraught and wants to go back to the river bed to search.

“He hiked almost 10 miles every single day to get back down to the river and search for her,” Lauren Meidinger, Ashby’s daughter-in-law, said. “He has some non-life-threatening injuries, but he’s been treated at the local USC hospital, and he wants to get back out there and continue the search.”

But the family is heartened by the outpouring of support and resources both from the community and the search teams.

“They have drones, they have Green Beret squads, they have (search) dogs,” Jessica Meidinger said. “For (Kim) specifically, I think we have what we need. But I know so many families don’t have what they need. And a lot of western North Carolina that are all just small communities that are spread out are still waiting for help.”

She said her mom would want to make sure others are being taken care of.

“It would hurt her to know if she’s sucking up too many resources. And so we know that she wants to help as many people as possible,” Jessica Meidinger said. “So continue to reach out to other families because our family has been helped and been blessed.”