Opal Williams

Helene’s First Victim in Watauga County Rescued with Only Minutes to Spare STORY BY SHERRIE NORRIS

F

riday, September 27, 2024, began like most other weekday mornings for Opal Williams. Preparing for another day’s work in Environmental Services at Appalachian State University in Boone, she rose early, ate breakfast, bid farewell to her pets, and was on her way. The time was 5 a.m.; leaving home in the dark was nothing unusual.

She knew that heavy rains and winds were in the forecast, related to Hurricane Helene, but at age 74, she had never worried too much about hurricanes hitting the mountains. She recalled remnants of Hurricane Hugo and had heard all her life about the ‘40 flood. But, living on a ridge northeast of Boone, Williams wasn’t too concerned.

“When I started out, things seemed pretty calm,” she recalled.

“But as I drove a short distance down Pine Run Road, I didn’t know what to think. It was raining hard; the wind was blowing, and I couldn’t see very well. As I reached the bridge, I started to get nervous. I tried to turn around and head back up the hill, but my vehicle stalled. And there I was.”

At the time, she didn’t realize that the powerful force of the water was moving her car, but she felt helpless as the water began pouring into her floorboard, covering her feet.

“I got scared but had enough sense about me to grab my phone from my pocket and call 911,” she said. “I was afraid my call wouldn’t go through, but thankfully, someone answered and assured me that help was on the way.”

In the meantime, the water continued to rise inside her small SUV.

“I started crying and praying, ‘Dear Jesus, please send help.’”

What seemed like forever, was really not long at all, she later recalled. “The dispatcher stayed on the phone with me the whole time, trying to keep me calm. All of a sudden, as the water was up over my stomach, I saw lights and I cried out, ‘Thank you, Jesus!’”

In the meantime, the Deep Gap Volunteer Fire Department and Watauga County Rescue Squad had been dispatched to assist Williams from the rising flood waters, accompanied by the NC Marine Patrol Swift Water Team, based at the Deep Gap Fire Department.

It was the first emergency response of many to follow that day and in the days ahead.

“Once we arrived on the scene, we pulled on our swift water equipment and waded to the SUV, water up to our waist,” said Watauga Rescue’s Assistant Chief, Garrett Norris, who was the first to reach Williams.

“The flood waters had carried her vehicle downstream, approximately 75 yards from where it entered the flooded roadway, pushing it perpendicular against a light pole along the ditch line.”

Norris recalled how the water had nearly filled the vehicle's interior up to the windows; the flooded vehicle had lost all power; with the doors locked, it was necessary to break the passenger window to gain access to Williams.

By the time the rescue team got to her car, the water had risen to Williams’ chest level.

“When I heard a man’s voice, I knew God had heard my cries

Opal Williams was able to meet some of her heroes and thank them for saving her life three weeks after her harrowing rescue. Pictured from left: Jonathan Greer, Brantley Taylor, Garrett Norris, Kasey Brown, Opal Williams, Jim Ninnis, Emily Ninnis, Brandon Norris and Jamie Dunn. Photo by Sherrie Norris.

Sherry Dollar, left, accompanies her mother, Opal Williams, to revisit the area east of Boone, where floodwaters from Hurricane Helene nearly took her mother’s life. Photo by Sherrie Norris.

52

HIGH COUNTRY MAGAZINE

December 2024

The NC Marine Patrol Swift Water Team set up base at the Deep Gap Fire Department on September 26, the Thursday before Hurricane Helene made landfall. Photo courtesy of Deep Gap Fire Department.

and sent help just in time,” she said. “The young man asked if I could swim, and I told him no. They couldn’t get the doors open; I wasn’t sure how they were going to get me out. I remember one saying they would have to bust out my window, and they did; with one on each side of me, they pulled me out of the car.

Risking their own lives, as the water continued to rise, they lifted me up into the canoe and took me on to the ambulance. My life was on the verge of going under, and I had been saved. That’s all I could think about.”

Another few minutes and it would probably have been too late, she said, which was later confirmed by her rescuers.

“They kept talking to me; they were absolutely wonderful,” she said. “They offered to take me to the hospital, but I didn’t want to go. I just wanted to go home.”

But that didn’t happen immediately.

“Brantley Taylor, with Deep Gap Fire Department, was there helping save me,” she said. “He goes to church with me at Rutherwood Baptist. He said, ‘Mrs. Opal, you’re going home with me.’ So, that’s where I went until later on that day when he and his sweet wife, Tabitha, took me back. Tabitha washed and dried my clothes and was so good to me.”

At the Taylor house, Brantley told Williams that her story had already made the front page of the Watauga Democrat newspaper/online. I said, “Oh no, you mean I’m a star? And he said,” ‘Yes, ma’am.’”

Just moments after Opal Williams was rescued on North Pine Run Road between Boone and Deep Gap in the early morning hours of September 27, her car continued to sink into the rising floodwaters. Photo courtesy of Watauga County Rescue Squad.

When I heard a man’s voice, I knew God had heard my cries and sent help just in time. The young man asked if I could swim, and I told him no. They couldn’t get the doors open; I wasn’t sure how they were going to get me out. I remember one saying they would have to bust out my window, and they did; with one on each side of me, they pulled me out of the car. Risking their own lives, as the water continued to rise, they lifted me up into the canoe and took me on to the ambulance. My life was on the verge of going under, and I had been saved. That’s all I could think about.

- OPAL WILLIAMS December 2024

HIGH COUNTRY MAGAZINE

53

Williams’ oldest son, Glen Hicks, was the first of her family she notified. “He said, ‘Mom, are you kidding me?’ I said, No, son, I was just rescued from the flooding waters.

I almost lost my life.” Her daughter, Sherry Dollar, was out of town and had no cell service, but once she spoke with her mother, she, too, was in disbelief.

Not one to ever miss work, Williams didn’t call into the office until later that morning, but when she did, her supervisor was “very understanding,” she said.

Once Williams returned home, (a threehour journey that normally would take 10 minutes and is a story in itself ) she, like most, was without electrical power. “No lights, no phone. No car. No way of going anywhere. But I was alive and that was good enough for me.”

By Sunday morning, reality set in. While sitting there “crying, worried, and praying about everything and everybody else,” she heard a vehicle outside. “I rushed out there and started crying again. It was my son, Glen (and his brother-in-law, Arlie Potter), who had come to take me home with him. I saw so much damage everywhere on the way to his house—it was pitiful. Roads were blocked and bridges were out. Nobody had power for days.”

Chetola DISCOVER

WINNER BEST LODGING RUNNER UP BEST PET FRIENDLY ADVENTURE

CHETOLA.COM | 828.295.5500

Our professional care team has provided quality hospice and palliative care to Ashe, Avery and Watauga counties since 2014—originally as Caldwell Hospice Serving the High Country and, since 2021, as AMOREM. We are still your local, non-profit hospice and palliative provider—more resources and a new name, but still right at home in the High Country.

LEARN HOW AMOREM CAN IMPROVE YOUR QUALITY OF LIFE.

“My job is an 828.754.0101 l 1.844.4AMOREM WWW.AMOREMSUPPORT.ORG

act of love.”

—DONNA TATE, MSN, FNP-C

YO U R LO C A L , N O N - P R O F I T H O S P I C E A N D PA L L I AT I V E M E D I C I N E P R O V I D E R 54

HIGH COUNTRY MAGAZINE

December 2024

Up here on the ridge where I’m at, I can’t really tell when the weather is bad elsewhere. But, I can promise you one thing, after this, if it comes one snowflake before I retire (hopefully next year, after 23 years), I’m liable to sit right here and not leave.

- OPAL WILLIAMS

Opal Williams revisits the scene of her rescue on North Pine Run Road, in awe that flood waters carried her car, with her in it, to rest against the utility pole, rather than sweeping it downriver. Photo by Sherrie Norris.

This mother of three, (Glen Hicks, Sherry Hicks Dollar, and Michael Hicks), grandmother of six, and great-grandmother of four—didn’t ask for much after her life-altering event. But one thing she wanted was to meet her rescuers and thank them for what they did.

And we helped make that happen. On Tuesday, October 30, members of Watauga Country Rescue Squad and Deep Gap Fire Department met Williams and her daughter, Sherry, at the fire department.

“We just had to see them and thank them for what they did for my mother,” Dollar said. “There’s just no words to really tell them what they mean to us.”

At the same time, Williams and some of her rescuers reminisced about that morning. “If her car had been swept to the left toward the river, rather than pushed to the right, up against that pole, the situation would’ve ended much differently,” said Brantley Taylor. “It would have been a recovery, rather than a rescue. There’s no doubt about it.”

Later that morning when the tow truck came to retrieve the vehicle, it wasn’t even visible, Taylor said. “It was underwater, completely covered.”

Taylor said that having life-saving crews on the scene in mere moments was invaluable, as was having backup team members standing by at the fire and rescue bases for assistance.

Taylor, Norris, and all involved agreed that the quick actions by fire, rescue, and state personnel ensured the incident ran smoothly and safely. And for that, they, along with Williams and her family, are very grateful. t

When her power was restored, Williams returned home. “I was so thankful, but I had lost everything in my two refrigerators and freezers. I’m a diabetic, and [I] have high blood pressure, [and] a pacemaker since 2016, but I tried not to let it get the best of me. It was a rough go for everybody.”

Williams saw stories on Facebook and cried for families who had lost their homes and loved ones and their belongings, she said. “There’s no doubt in my mind that Jesus was right there with me, wading that water and bringing those men to save me.”

And about her Bible that was on the back seat of her car?

“I kept praying that I’d be able to get my Bible back. A few days later, I went back down Pine Run Road, wondering if my car was still there. And it was, covered in mud.”

Two passers-by stopped, heard about her Bible, and said they would be back with a shovel to help her.

“Before they got back, two others came along—Adam Stanbery and Jonathon Greer—and Jonathan went down to my car and got my Bible for me. That meant so much. I believe this story will be a good witness to someone about what Jesus did for me. I still cry over it. I can’t help it.”

Life goes on for Opal Williams, the thankful recipient of Helene’s first documented rescue in Watauga County. But it will never be the same again for her, she admits.

She had a few days off from work, while the students were out, but she was ready to go back (October 14), in time for their return to campus.

“Up here on the ridge where I’m at, I can’t really tell when the weather is bad elsewhere,” she said. “But I can promise you one thing, after this, if it comes one snowflake before I retire (hopefully next year, after 23 years), I’m liable to sit right here and not leave.”

She loved her car, but it was The NC Marine Patrol Swift Water Team accompanied Deep Gap Volunteer Fire Department and Watauga replaced soon thereafter.

County Rescue Squad to assist Williams. Photo courtesy of Deep Gap Fire Department.

December 2024

HIGH COUNTRY MAGAZINE

55