The carnage caused by Hurricane Florence continues to reveal itself as the rain is easing and wreckage is being cleared.
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said that as of the morning of Sept. 17, 17 people had died as a result of Hurricane Florence in that state.
South Carolina officials said they had confirmed six storm-related deaths there as of the afternoon of Sept. 17, SFGate reported.
“We mourn the loss of each and every life and our hearts go out to their friends and their family,” Governor Cooper told SFGate. “We hope there’s not another life lost, but we know that raging rivers are still out there.”
Some of the deaths were truly tragic.
A 3-month-old baby in Gaston County, North Carolina, was crushed to death when a pine tree split outside the family’s mobile home. Half the tree fell across the residence. Both parents were home tending to the child.
Another child, this a 1-year-old, was swept away by floodwaters on Sept. 16. The boy’s body was discovered the next day.
Trapped by a Falling Tree
The Gill family, Olen, Tammy, and 3-month-old Kade, were inside their mobile home on Moses Court in unincorporated Gaston County around 12:45 p.m. on Sept. 16, when a large pine tree outside the home split down the middle and fell.Kade’s mother, Tammy, was holding him in her arms when the half tree fell right across the middle of their dwelling.
Neighbor Billy Hawkins heard the tree split.
“I brought the dog out and I heard something snap,” said Hawkins. “Then the daddy came out hollering, ’Call 911, Call 911.”
Gill and Hawkins went inside the mobile home where Tammy Gill was trapped under the tree, shouting, “Get my kid, get my kid.”
Hawkins and Gill were able to free the infant. Tammy Gill remained pinned beneath the tree until firefighters from Spencer Mountain Volunteer Fire Department arrived and cut the two-foot-diameter trunk into movable sections.
EMTs took Kade Gill to the hospital, but his injuries were too severe. “They come in the room and said he had head trauma and we didn’t even know,” Tammy Gill told the Gazette.
“They had been doing CPR for the last 30 minutes and they just wanted permission to stop. I said no at first, but after another 30 minutes, he wouldn’t come back.”
Kade Gill became the 17th death related to Hurricane Florence since it hit the North Carolina coast on Sept. 14.
Child Lost in the Flood
Kaiden Lee-Welch, 1, lost his life after his mother decided to ignore barricades blocking a flooded road.The woman drove around the barricades and into the flood. The rushing waters swept her car off the road.
“Her vehicle left the roadway and came to rest amongst a group of trees,” officials from the Union County Sheriff’s Office told the Observer.
“She managed to free herself and Kaiden, who was in a car seat, but lost her grip on him in the rushing water.”
