Wife & mother of four children killed in Helene flooding, husband still hospitalized

An Avery County man is recovering in the hospital Saturday night as he says flooding from Hurricane Helene killed his wife.

Jamie and Melissa Gunn had four children, three of which came from Melissa’s previous marriage, and were just weeks away from celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary.

He said he would also get her something small around Halloween because that was the day he proposed to her.

“She had a dark sense of humor, but it was very funny once you got to understand it,” he said.

On Friday, Sept. 27, Guinn said he was home with Melissa and their 8-year-old son sheltering during Helene when they heard a large “boom” sound outside.

When Guinn went to check, he saw a mudslide hit the back of his house.

“I opened the door to the garage, and our garage was gone,” he said as he fought through tears. “All the mud and trees were in the backyard. We had got some trash bags together and [we] duct taped them to keep the wind and rain from blowing in the back door of the house before it shattered.”

Guinn said he went outside and managed to drain some of the mud and rain, but 40 minutes later, another mudslide knocked them into a river.

“It sounded like a cannon going off. I just remember being crushed by the house falling all around me,” he said. “I remember thinking in my head, ‘I guess this is how I’m going to die.’”

Guinn said after he freed himself, he got his son over to a riverbank. He told WRAL News he could hear his wife screaming from where the house originally was.

“All I could remember was her screaming, “Babe, watch out,’ So I grabbed my little boy and threw him up on the bank to try and grab ahold of a tree or anything to try and just find something to be on the bank away from the river.”

Guinn believes another mudslide knocked his wife into the river because when he and his son got to safety, they couldn’t hear her anymore.

“I got right behind my little boy and started screaming for my wife because I couldn’t hear her anymore,” he said. “He looked at me and said, “Dad, I think mommy’s gone.’”

Guinn and his son eventually made it to a neighbor’s house, who were able to help him.

Guinn, suffered a fractured spine, fractured lower back and a laceration to his head that got infected, but said no pain is worse to him than losing Melissa.

”I don’t think I still even comprehended,” he said. “Part of me feels like I’m still in a state of shock and understanding everything that happened. I think I’m just making myself realize everything that did happen.”

Guinn’s story is one many families are experiencing across the southeast.

Since Helene made landfall Thursday, Sept. 26, as a Category 4 hurricane, 227 people have died, including 112 from North Carolina and 72 in Buncombe County. Some of the people lost so far are grandparents, fiancées and first responders.

Guinn said he would remember Melissa as a good mother and wife to their children.

“Love who you got because you really know when they’re gone,” he said. “It could happen that quick. I mean, within an hour, my entire life changed for the rest of my life.”

Family and friends of Guinn have started a GoFundMe to help him and his family recover.