North Carolina\u2019s Jesse Craig is mourning the loss of 11 family members who were killed by a mudslide caused by the \u201cbiblical devastation\u201d of Hurricane Helene.<\/p>\n
Among those dead are Jesse\u2019s mother and father, and the houses in the small community called \u201cCraigtown,\u201d where generations of the tight-knit family lived for 80 years.<\/p>\n
Keep reading to learn more about this tragic story.<\/p>\n
After destroying parts of Florida, Hurricane Helene made its way north, unleashing its fury as it ripped apart everything along its wicked path.<\/p>\n
The devastating tropical cyclone killed about 230 people across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee, and is now considered the deadliest mainland hurricane since Katrina in 2005.
\nSince September 27, Helene flooded much of western North Carolina and raging mudslides ripped victims and their homes from mountainous communities.<\/p>\n
Rescue along with recovery teams, and K9 Units are still searching through the \u201cbiblical devastation\u201d caused by Helene.<\/p>\n
Among those dead are 11 members of the Craig family, who lived about 12 miles southeast of Asheville in a community dubbed Craigtown, which was slammed by Helene.<\/p>\n
Fox News reports that the \u201c11 deceased family members lived in several houses beside each other, which the mudslide crushed when it came down the slope of the mountain near their homes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother and father, my aunt and uncle, my great aunt and uncle, I\u2019ve lost cousins, second cousins, things like that, but 11 people overall from this mudslide,\u201d Jesse Craig tells ABC of his family, described as \u201cpillars of the community\u201d in a GoFundMe campaign created to support the surviving members.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s unrecognizable now, but this is where I was born and raised,\u201d Jesse says of the land his grandfather bought 80 years ago. Since, generations of Craigs were born and raised in the family community, memories that were erased by Helene. \u201cWe\u2019ll never make sense of it. You know, it\u2019s our community and our town. I don\u2019t know that it\u2019ll ever be the same.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jesse\u2019s wife MeKenzie says, \u201cI don\u2019t know that it\u2019ll ever be the same\u2026It\u2019s been that life-altering a situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t been able to process it yet. It [doesn\u2019t feel] new because it feels like it\u2019s been forever; I don\u2019t even know what day it is,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n
Now, all that stands on the plot of land is an American flag that Jesse attached to a fallen tree branch.<\/p>\n
Praising her husband for his courage in dealing with his massive loss since \u201cHurricane HELL-ene,\u201d MaKenzie writes, \u201c[Jesse] raised this flag as high as he could in the home place he grew up in + one of the few places I have been able to call home for the past 6 years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
North Carolina\u2019s Jesse Craig is mourning the loss of 11 family members who were killed by a mudslide caused by the \u201cbiblical devastation\u201d of Hurricane Helene. Among… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n