A North Carolina man will forever be haunted by the loving words his wife screamed before she was killed by flooding caused by Hurricane Helene.
Only seconds after Jamie Guinn saw his wife alive, the mother of four was taken by the raging waters that crushed their home.
And then, their 8-year-old son, who saw his mom swept away, uttered the heartbreaking words, âDaddy, I think mommyâs gone.â
Jamie and Melissa Guinn were only a few weeks from celebrating their 10-year wedding anniversary. According to Melissaâs sister Elizabeth Hensley, the couple, who met 17 years ago, shared a love âyou would only ever find in the movies.â
âWe are so thankful for [Jamie] being a part of our family and we are so grateful for how much you loved [Melissa]. Because of you she really do get to live her long song,â Hensley writes in a Facebook message dedicated to her sisterâs husband.
âShe is so beautiful. He loves her more [than] anything,â Hensley writes in a separate post of Melissa and Jamie, days after she learned her beloved sister was dead.
Floods and mudslides
On Friday, September 27, Jamie, Melissa and their 8-year-old son River were sheltering in their Minneapolis, North Carolina home while Hurricane Helene raged through the state, burying communities under water and in the mud.
Overnight the storm quietly reached their community and then Helene made a fierce appearance, leaving the couple aware that their hillside home overlooking the river, was at risk.
âAll of a sudden, I heard something. Sounded like an explosion. And me and my wife went running through the house and the back door was shattered,â Jamie tells Fox News of the landslide that was destroying pieces of the home. âSo, I ran to go to the garage to get something to block the garage off and our garage was gone.â
And then, their entire home came tumbling down and slid into the river, that had swollen beyond the banks.
âIt sounded like a cannon going off. I just remember being crushed by the house falling all around me,â continued Jamie, who later learned he had a fractured spine. âAnd I can remember screaming for my little boy, and I could hear him screaming. And somehow, we dug through the house where it collapsed almost down into the river, and I found him.â
As Jamie went to grab River, he looked over and saw Melissa standing over the foundation where their home once stood.
âAnd my wife was still up on the top where the house wasâŚAnd then she screamed, âBabe, watch out!ââ
âMommyâs goneâ
Explaining that he thought she was warning him of âanother slideâ Jamie turned away from his wife to quickly grab his âlittle boy,â and throw him âup on the bankâ âaway from the river.â
And then the father and son raced back to their flattened home where Melissa last stood.
Choking back his tears in the interview with Fox, the man â stepfather to Melissaâs three older sons â continues, âAnd by the time I turned back around to try to make myself alertâŚ
âShe was gone.â
But Jamie couldnât give up on the woman, whoâs described by loved ones as âan all-around sweet soul.â
âSo, I went to scream and was screaming for her,â says Jamie, who was still in shock. And then River said, âDaddy, I think mommyâs gone.â
Knowing he had to protect their son, Jamie took River to a neighborâs place where the two sheltered until the conditions improved.
âHurricane Helene changed Jamie and his boyâs lifeâs forever. On Friday his home and everything he owned was washed away,â writes Brandy Burroughs, who organized a GoFundMe in support of the Jamie, whoâs left a single father of four boys. âThe real tragedy of this event was the passing of his sweet wife Melissa Hensley GuinnâŚJamie and the boys are now without their homeâŚThe journey will be long for everyone involved and will not be easy.â
Speaking of his heartache, Jamie shares that Melissa was his âabsolute best friend.â
âI really donât know how Iâm going to make it without her. We spent every day together. Everything Iâve done, she was involved in the same way as every other,â Jamie said of Melissa. âJust going from having that person in your life every day to literally gone in the blink of an eye, it just shows how often you might take for granted being with someone.â
Reflecting on the devastation caused by Helene, Jamie said heâs still shocked.
âHow much the river water rose was just unfathomable. Itâs hard to put into words what that was like. Itâs stuff thatâs not supposed to happen here. It doesnât happen here,â Jamie said. âWe donât know where, I donât even know where we begin to start picking up pieces from after this.â
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