The body of the last victim of Hurricane Helene in Tennessee has been found, 2 years later

The remains of the final missing Tennessee victim from Hurricane Helene were found two years after the storm devastated Appalachian mountain towns with floods that wiped away whole communities.

Nancy Tucker, 76, disappeared along with her husband, Jimmy Tucker, when flooding from the Nolichucky River took their home in rural Washington County in the northeastern corner of Tennessee on September 27, 2024. His body was recovered within a couple of days, but hers had been missing until Saturday, said Susan Saylor, spokesperson for the Washington County Sheriff’s Department. Their son lived in the home as well but was at work when the flood hit, Saylor said.

“The promise to bring Nancy home is now reality, and now we work on healing and celebrating and finally being able to bring her home and properly lay her to rest with her husband, Jim,” family spokesperson Risa Buck wrote in a statement provided to The Associated Press by James Matthews of the Washington County-Johnson City Emergency Medical Service.

Helene killed more than 250 people and caused nearly $80 billion in damage from Florida to the Carolinas. In the mountains on the North Carolina-Tennessee border, rains of up to 30 inches turned usually gentle streams into torrents that moved trees, boulders, homes and vehicles, and shattered century-old flood records. Many of those killed were swept away in the flooding. In North Carolina, the body of Alena Ayers has never been recovered. Her case prompted the North Carolina legislature last year to establish Alena’s Law, making it easier to declare a person dead if they disappear during a natural disaster.

In Tennessee, first responders over the past two years had narrowed down the search area for Nancy Tucker to a portion of the Cherokee National Forest called Jackson Island. However, they faced both physical and bureaucratic hurdles. Since February, search crews had logged over 400 miles walking through the area but could not search through the debris piles, Matthews said. Some reached 40 feet high in places and, in addition to trees and rocks, were filled with things like cars and large propane tanks.

Because the area was federal land and thought to contain Native American burial sites, local responders were not allowed to bring in the heavy equipment needed for debris removal, Saylor said. They had to wait for action from the federal government, which awarded a contract for the removal work this summer.

“On Saturday, I got the call that I’ve been waiting for two years — just four days after the operation began,” Matthews said. Nancy Tucker’s remains were discovered on Saturday, but removal of the remains continued into Sunday evening. Matthews was among the group that was at the site on Sunday.

“The moment we found a clear indication that this was Mrs. Tucker, everyone on the scene — we stopped. We cried. All of us cried. And we prayed,” he said.

The final, positive identification was made by a medical examiner on Monday afternoon.

An obituary for Jimmy Tucker from 2024 said that he and Nancy met while they were both serving in the US Army and were married for 44 years.

When asked why first responders never gave up the search, Saylor noted that Washington County Sheriff Keith Sexton had vowed to recover every missing person after the storm.

“Why would you not want to bring what you could bring to the family, who had already lost a father?” Saylor asked. “There was never a question of stopping.”

飓风海伦肆虐阿巴拉契亚山区城镇两年后，田纳西州最后一位失踪遇难者的遗骸被找到。这场风暴引发的洪水摧毁了整个社区。

2024年9月27日，诺利丘基河洪水冲毁了位于田纳西州东北角华盛顿县乡村地区的家园，76岁的南希·塔克和她的丈夫吉米·塔克随即失踪。华盛顿县警长办公室发言人苏珊·塞勒表示，吉米的遗体在几天后被找到，但南希的遗体直到上周六才被找到。他们的儿子也住在那里，但洪水来袭时他正在上班。

“将南希带回家的承诺现在已经成为现实，现在我们正在努力疗伤、庆祝，最终能够把她带回家，让她和她的丈夫吉姆一起安葬，”家庭发言人丽莎·巴克在一份声明中写道。这份声明由华盛顿县-约翰逊城紧急医疗服务中心的詹姆斯·马修斯提供给美联社。

海伦飓风造成超过250人死亡，从佛罗里达州到卡罗来纳州，损失近800亿美元。在北卡罗来纳州和田纳西州交界的山区，高达30英寸的降雨将原本平静的溪流变成了滔天洪水，冲毁了树木、巨石、房屋和车辆，打破了百年来的洪水纪录。许多遇难者被洪水卷走。在北卡罗来纳州，阿莱娜·艾尔斯的遗体至今仍未找到。她的遭遇促使北卡罗来纳州议会去年通过了《阿莱娜法案》，该法案旨在简化自然灾害中失踪人员的死亡认定程序。

在田纳西州，过去两年里，救援人员一直在缩小对南希·塔克的搜寻范围，最终锁定在切诺基国家森林公园内名为杰克逊岛的区域。然而，他们面临着诸多实际困难和行政障碍。马修斯说，自二月份以来，搜救人员已经在该地区徒步跋涉了超过400英里，但却无法在堆积如山的瓦砾中展开搜索。有些瓦砾堆高达40英尺，除了树木和岩石外，还堆满了汽车和大型丙烷罐等物品。

塞勒表示，由于该地区属于联邦土地，且被认为包含美洲原住民墓地，因此当地救援人员无法调集清理废墟所需的重型设备。他们只能等待联邦政府的行动，联邦政府已于今年夏天授予了清理工作的合同。

“周六，我接到了期盼了两年的电话——就在行动开始四天后，”马修斯说道。南希·塔克的遗骸于周六被发现，但遗骸的移送工作一直持续到周日晚上。马修斯是周日在现场的工作人员之一。

“当我们确凿地确认这是塔克夫人时，现场所有人——我们都停了下来。我们哭了。我们所有人都哭了。我们祈祷了，”他说。

周一下午，法医最终确认了身份。

2024 年吉米·塔克的讣告称，他和南希在美国陆军服役期间相识，并结婚 44 年。

当被问及为什么救援人员从未放弃搜寻时，塞勒指出，华盛顿县警长基思·塞克斯顿曾誓言要在风暴过后找到每一个失踪人员。

“你为什么不想尽你所能帮助这个已经失去父亲的家庭呢？”赛勒问道。“我们从来没有想过要停止。”