A Holly Springs man made national headlines when he saved an Ashe County woman from almost certain death in the floods caused by Hurricane Helene. Eddie Hunnell is a new resident to Holly Springs, but he didn’t waste any time putting us in the national spotlight.
If you haven’t seen the story yet, Eddie was in Grassy Creek, on the NC-TN border, over the weekend of September 29 for his son’s wedding. In the midst of the hurricane, Eddie and his family were in the common area of their bed and breakfast when a neighbor came in and told the owner someone was trapped in a house with rising floodwaters. A man was on the bank, and his wife was trapped in their family home, which was surrounded by flood waters.
Phil Worth was watching his wife, Leslie, and their family home, being overwhelmed by the raging floodwaters.
Phil and Eddie found some rope they hoped would help in rescuing Leslie, but they were unable to reach her. Eddie threw on a life vest and tried to get to her using a canoe, but the current was too strong. A roof from another building came downstream, making contact with the Worth family home. Eddie said, “When [the Worths’ house] came off its foundation, it went about 30 feet and stopped against some large trees. It then started coming apart.” The house was no longer structurally safe, and time was running out for Leslie who was still stranded inside.
At that point, Eddie, at 57 years old, took what he refers to as a “calculated risk.”
“We yelled at her to jump, and I tried again to reach her with the canoe. I was trying to make the calculated risk of, ‘How do we save her?’ I grew up swimming on a swim team and I was a lifeguard. I’m in OK shape, but I couldn’t watch her die. She was in the water. That’s when I jumped out of the canoe.”
Eddie’s risk paid off. He swam into the turbulent water and was able to bring Leslie to the shore. Cell phone footage captured every moment of the harrowing rescue.
Phil and Leslie joined Eddie and his family that evening for the rehearsal dinner, and Eddie says the rain stopped ahead of the wedding, and it was perfect.
Although the Worths are safe, they lost everything in the storm. Eddie has started a GoFundMe account for the Worths to help them get back on their feet. If you want to help our neighbors to the west, here’s a great way to support a couple that now has a very personal connection to Holly Springs, thanks to one of our newest residents. The QR code will take you directly to their GoFundMe page.
