Safe at home Friday afternoon in Illinois, Matthew Cloyd was aware that the hurricane that had slammed Florida’s Big Bend overnight was expected to continue its brutal path through the Southeast.
However, he never imagined that the storm could impact his parents’ home near the Nolichucky River, located 500 miles to the north in far northeastern Tennessee.
Tropical systems can wreak havoc on coastlines, and with strong enough gusts, can snap trees 50 miles inland. If the storm stalls, it can dump rain in the same area for days, flooding basements and streets.
Matthew believed that even if a storm like that reached his parents’ neighborhood, their house was safe, resting on a mound in the Appalachians, about 1,700 feet above sea level. He was confident that the one-time Category 4 hurricane, Helene, could not reach them.
Then, his phone rang. It was his mother, and the words that followed shattered his sense of security.
“Your dad’s in trouble.”
Hours earlier, Helene had unleashed a nightmare across Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas. Debris was scattered everywhere, homes were tilted off their foundations, and cars were submerged in the muddy waters of swollen creeks.
Tragically, some people were already confirmed dead, and many others were reported missing. The storm was still moving north, toward East Tennessee, which had already been saturated with at least 4 inches of rain from a separate weather system.
The drizzle from Helene’s outer bands had settled over Keli and Steven Cloyd’s community before escalating to a steady, heavy rain. Keli, who managed a beauty supply store about 20 miles away, had left for work, while Steven, a strong and resilient man, stayed home with their 2-year-old goldendoodle, Orion.
As the rain intensified, Steven kept Keli updated through calls and text messages, even sending a video of a growing puddle near their home. Keli, concerned about the weather, texted, “Ummmm isn’t there another front coming through??? Safer for me to come home??”
The water began to saturate the pavement, and Steven texted, “I think the house is alright being on the mound it’s built on, but the drain outside …”
However, the creeping waterline was soon nearing the garage. Steven’s earlier confidence began to wane as he texted Keli, “Uh oh. You’re not getting home right now.”
“OMG, I SHOULD HAVE LEFT,” Keli replied, panic creeping into her messages.
“You wouldn’t have made it,” Steven replied. “Sh*ts getting real.”
The following messages from Steven showed the murky water inching closer and closer to their home. “This is not good,” he texted. “It’s going to get the upstairs if it keeps up. Basement is a goner.”
“We are … Trapped in the house,” he soon wrote. “Basement is filling fast …”
Keli could sense the fear in Steven’s voice during their phone calls, a fear she had never encountered before. She reached out to Matthew, who was in Illinois, to share the alarming news.
“Your dad’s in trouble,” she told Matthew, who was taken aback.
“What do you mean Dad’s in trouble?” Matthew asked, his heart racing.
“Your father just called me and said it’s flooding really bad. The home is flooded,” Keli replied, her voice trembling.
Matthew quickly gathered his younger brother and a vehicle, and they set off on a 700-mile journey to find their father.
Hunting for Safety
The GPS indicated that the trip from Rockford to Jonesborough should take about 11 hours. However, after the storm, it was far from a straight shot.
By the time Matthew and his brother arrived on Saturday evening, the nightmare they had imagined in East Tennessee had become a reality. Debris was scattered everywhere, homes were torn from their foundations, and bridges lay disconnected from the land.
The brothers began their search, finally finding a bridge they could cross to reach their mother.
By then, across Helene’s path of destruction, police, firefighters, and concerned citizens were out searching for missing people, using canoes, high-water vehicles, and even their own feet to find those who had not been heard from.
Keli and her sons located Steven’s Jeep in a field about a quarter-mile from their home. The removable roof panel was missing, and there was no sign of Steven or Orion.
The family turned to social media, pleading for any information about their missing husband and father. Soon, a neighbor reached out to share that she had found Orion safe, just three miles down the road.
As the days passed, the Cloyd family grappled with feelings of helplessness. Matthew reached out to authorities to report his father missing, while they continued to share their pleas on social media, hoping for a sign of Steven’s safety.
Matthew urged anyone living along the Nolichucky River to check their backyards, hoping to find his father or anyone else who might have been affected by the storm.
“Everybody deserves to be found,” he said, as he and his family continued their search, hoping for a miracle.
Matthew expressed a desire to connect with others who had been affected by the storm, to share their experiences and support one another through the unthinkable.
“It doesn’t feel real,” he said, as the family continued to hold on to hope, even as the stars emerged night after night following the storm.
