The family’s home was washed away in a landslide; An 11-year-old boy was rescued three hours later with the help of a dog.

TRANSYLVANIA COUNTY, N.C. (WYFF) – A Transylvania County family is still recovering after a landslide caused by Hurricane Helen destroyed their home, trapping an 11-year-old child in the rubble for three hours.

“Then it fell on my face and I couldn’t see anything,” 11-year-old Jamie Parker remembers the horror of being stuck under rubble for three hours after a landslide caused by Hurricane Helen trapped him.

His grandmother, Donna Jones, remembers her family sitting at home when the landslide hit.

“I was just sitting at the dinner table, and I heard some noise. And then all of a sudden I turned around and saw walls and a refrigerator coming towards me,” Jones said.

The house was completely destroyed, torn from its foundation and rolled down the hill before crashing into dirt and trees. Jamie, sitting next to his sister Jema on the sofa, was buried under thousands of pounds of rubble.

“If I moved my lower body at all, except my arms, my head, my whole body, my whole lower body hurt. The ceiling fan was making it so I couldn’t move this leg right here,” he said.

He described being stuck with his arms above his head.

“The railing hit me on the side right here and I got stuck like that. I’m so stuck all the time. I could move my other leg, but it was stuck in my pocket. But my other leg was gone and it hurt really, really bad.”

Still covered in rain and debris, his sister Jema was able to find a hole to crawl out of.

“There was a complete hole in front of her with a microwave that she could just move around,” Jamie said.

With the help of the family dog, rescuers were then able to pull Jamie from the rubble.

“(I) lost my toenails looking for the boy. I was just running down the street like an idiot, looking for him, trying to find him,” Michael Jones said. “The dog, he got on top of the pile and started scratching and he led the fireman (towards Jamie).”

Almost a month later, the family was left with nothing. Donna said there was only $4,000 left on the house’s mortgage.

“The homeowner’s insurance company denied the claim because it was a landslide, a landslide,” she said.

They are currently living in rented property.

“We have no choice, you know? We have no choice. At 56, I found myself homeless. And you know, we’re just trying to have a little faith,” Jones said.

https://www.wyff4.com/article/kid-saved-by-miracle-home-destroyed-mudslide-helene-north-carolina/62711444