A South Florida couple trapped in North Carolina after the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene is finally back home Tuesday.
It was in Burnsville, North Carolina, about 35 miles northeast of hard-hit Asheville, where Keith and Angela Phillips went days without power or cell service after the storm blew through the area from the Florida Panhandle.
Homes were destroyed, the main concrete and metal bridge wiped out, and cars totaled.
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NBC News places the latest total death toll at 190 from Helene.
By the time Helene came and went, about 150 to 200 people who live in Burnsville were stuck.
The Phillips, Miami residents accustomed to hurricane season, were at their second home in the Carolinas doing renovations.
“We knew there was a hurricane in the Gulf and that it was going to come up the Panhandle. But we’re in the mountains in North Carolina, and I mean we live in Miami, we think we know about hurricanes," Angela Phillips said. "It’s never gonna get this far."
But Helene's reach proved immense.
The Phillips waited out the storm--to wake up to the catastrophe outside with no power or cell service.
Their daughter desperately used the new iPhone SOS feature to send text messages via satellite for help, alerting authorities of how dire their situation was.
“There was going to be no getting out with our cars or even--I have an ATV. I couldn’t get out with that. Later on, we tried hiking out, and because of the mud slides it was impossible to get out. That stuff, it was like quicksand,” Keith Phillips said.
But unexpectedly, after two days, the Phillips saw a helicopter land right in front of their home.
“I was crying. I thought, 'Oh a helicopter.' I didn’t think we were gonna get out that day or that hour,” said Angela Phillips.
The pilot, a good Samaritan who was only there to drop off food, ended up giving Angela, her daughter and their dog a ride out.
“That little pilot with his own private helicopter, donating his time, money, gas, everything else to go in drop off supplies and help people--God bless him. A guardian angel,” Keith Phillips said.
Keith ended up hitching a ride on a Black Hawk helicopter hours later, and the couple eventually caught flights out of Charlotte to come back home to Miami.
They have no idea when they’ll be able to go back to North Carolina.
