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Western NC resident helps man whose wife got swept away in floodwaters

Derek Calhoun was trying to get his family to safety when he came upon a man who'd just lost his wife in raging floodwaters.

ASHE COUNTY, N.C. — As floodwaters started to rise in Creston, the safety of others was top of mind for many - especially when word of landslides were happening around Rich Hill Road. 

Derek Calhoun loaded up his family and his ATV, but before he could get to the top of the hill, they were met with a landslide. 

"So, I went and got a tractor and started digging," Derek said. 

Derek said it was what he found after the landslide that will stay with him forever. A man asked him for help after his Jeep had gotten stuck in floodwaters - floodwaters that had swept away his wife. 

"They loaded themselves and their belongings and pets into the Jeep and try to head for higher ground, and when they came up this way, they were confronted with the creek in the road and make a decision to go through it, and got stuck in the creek, and then, evidently at some point when they try to get out to get back to safety, she was swept away in the creek," Calhoun said the man told him. 

It's just one of many tragic stories coming out of western North Carolina. 

“This is not isolated. This is everywhere in western North Carolina," Sara Ford said. 

Since Saturday, Ashe County said over 400 planes have been able to drop supplies off. Volunteers are also helping get food and much-needed supplies into isolated areas. 

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