The mother was swept away by the flooding caused by Hurricane Helene, while her husband and 8-year-old child, who were also scrambling to safety, watched helplessly.
North Carolina mom, Melissa Hensley Guinn, and her husband, Jamie Guinn, were startled by a sudden, explosion-like sound. This marked the beginning of a devastating ordeal that would ultimately leave their children without a mother and lead to Jamie losing his wife.
When Jamie and Melissa went to check out the cause of the big bang, they found the back door shattered. Jamie rushed off to the garage to get something to block the door but the garage had already been washed away.
Soon after, everything came tumbling down and Jamie recalled calling out for his son, River, 8, who was home with them in Minneapolis, North Carolina. The two are also parents to three other sons, Brandon, Sebastian, and Ethan.
Jamie and Melissa were caught off guard by the sudden turn of events, despite closely monitoring the situation from their home overlooking the river. In a rush, Jamie searched through the collapsed house to find their son, and fortunately, he was able to locate him.
He then looked up to see Melissa sitting on top of where their house previously sat. This marked the last time he saw her alive.
He recalled Melissa shouting at him to watch out, which led him to believe that another landslide was imminent. An emotional Jamie narrated, “So I tried to grab my little boy and threw him on my back because I figured it was another slide, and by the time I turned back around to try to make myself alert … she was gone.”
