ASHLAND, NC — When one Atlanta man agreed to stay in the North Carolina mountains for work last week, he would’ve never imagined the danger he would face as Helene blew through.
It took miles of walking for him and for his wife who went to rescue him.
Kyle Vargas was in Ashland, North Carolina for work when Helene blew through. He quickly realized, this was trouble.
“I noticed the trees blocking the driveway, I noticed parts of the driveway was washed away,” Kyle told Channel 2′s Candace McCowan.
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The car he and his brother were in, was trapped. So they made plans to walk. And he called his wife Enga, to drive from metro Atlanta to come pick him up.
“She drove about six hours to come get us,” Kyle said.
“I sat in line for an hour to get gas,” Enga said.
But the real trouble for Enga began when she got to the mountains.
“The road, it looked like somebody had ate some of it off. Like imagine a cookie that had been bitten into,” Enga said.
Enga was trying to get to Kyle. While Kyle is trying to get Enga. She even had to leave her car at one point.
“My brother and I have to walk 13 miles, about four and a half hours with no service, no phone signal,” Kyle said.
“This lovely lady was nice enough to walk with me three miles up the mountain. We came across lots of roads where it was just gone like no road,” said Enga who was turned around many times because of washed away roads, some that were blocked.
While Kyle and his brother climbed over trees and lost their shoes trekking through mudslides.
Both of them took multiple rides from strangers who kindly took them as far as they could before the roads were gone.
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Eventually, while in one of those cars, Enga spotted Kyle and his brother walking, and they were finally reunited.
“We knew when we got to Highway 85 we would be good because all we had to do was travel south to Atlanta,” Kyle said.
“I would do it again because if you had somebody you cared for you would want to make sure they get to safety,” Enga said.
“I appreciate her, I’m thankful,” he said.
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