Buncombe County cannot release the current number of missing people; FEMA intervenes

BUNCOMBE COUNTY, N.C. (WLOS) – A Facebook page created on September 28, two days after Hurricane Helene devastated the region, is specifically dedicated to those missing in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee.

The page is titled “Missing Persons in Eastern TN and Western NC Due to Flooding” and is filled with photos of men and women with descriptions of who they are and how desperate family and friends are for answers to the unknown.

Buncombe County spokeswoman Lillian Govus said Friday, Oct. 11, that the county cannot release a total missing person count at this time.

“We cannot provide any information about the missing individuals at this time,” Govus told News 13 via email.

In a later statement, Govus said FEMA will open a center in Asheville on Monday, Oct. 14, to help families locate loved ones.

“There are multiple missing persons lists being processed by multiple agencies, including the Sheriff's Department, the Asheville Police Department and also the United Way,” Govus wrote via email.

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On Friday, Oct. 11, Swannanoa Fire Chief Anthony Penland told News 13 that he is currently unsure how many bodies there are in his community.

Penland said the contact given to him was Allan Morgan, Buncombe County's emergency management representative, who helped monitor the missing person reports and partnered with the state's search assistance team called Task Force 2.

Penland also said the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office served as the primary point of contact for all families with missing persons.

News 13 contacted the department's spokesperson for information on the number of missing people reported. The spokeswoman, Christina Esmay, said she did not have the information and referred News 13 to Buncombe County spokeswoman Lillian Govus.

This is all information coming from different directions,” Govus wrote via text. “We are concentrating it into one source and on Monday FEMA will be that source.

Govus said she will obtain the address of the center where families can contact or visit FEMA representatives and will forward that information to News 13 once she receives it.

Venita Brown is still on the verge of tears when she thinks about her cousin Jimmy Harbison and his fight to hold on Friday, Sept. 27, after he was swept away by floodwaters on Lytle Cove Road.

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“I started screaming and yelling, ‘Go back! Go back! Go back,” Brown said.

Brown said she saw Harbison walk to her house from where he lived and told News 13 he always liked to go to his former brother-in-law's house.

“He did it about four times a day,” she said.

But Brown said that on that Friday night, when the rain began, her cousin refused to listen to her warnings and she watched as he was overwhelmed by the floodwaters.

“He went down face first and never resurfaced,” she said. “He was very kind, he was very loving – he was just Jimmy.”