Remains of last missing Tennessee victim of Hurricane Helene identified after two years

The remains of the last person unaccounted for in Tennessee after Hurricane Helene have been recovered, two years after the storm tore through Appalachian mountain communities and washed away entire neighbourhoods.

Nancy Tucker, 76, vanished along with her husband Jimmy Tucker when floodwaters from the Nolichucky River destroyed their home in rural Washington County, in Tennessee's northeastern corner, on September 27, 2024. Jimmy Tucker's body was found within days. Nancy Tucker remained missing until Saturday, according to Susan Saylor, a spokesperson for the Washington County Sheriff's Department. The couple's son also lived at the house but was at work when the flood struck.

Helene killed more than 250 people and caused close to $80 billion in damage across a path stretching from Florida to the Carolinas. Along the North Carolina-Tennessee border, rainfall of up to 30 inches (76 centimetres) transformed normally placid streams into violent currents that carried off trees, boulders, homes and vehicles, breaking flood records that had stood for a century. Many victims were swept away by the water. In North Carolina, the body of Alena Ayers has never been found, a case that led the state legislature last year to enact Alena's Law, which makes it easier to declare a person dead after disappearing in a natural disaster.

In Tennessee, search teams had gradually narrowed their focus over two years to a section of the Cherokee National Forest known as Jackson Island. The effort ran into both physical and administrative obstacles. James Matthews, of the local Emergency Management Agency, said crews had walked more than 400 miles (644 kilometres) through the area since February but were unable to search the debris piles, some of which rose as high as 40 feet (12 metres) and contained cars and large propane tanks alongside trees and rocks.

Because the site is federal land and was believed to hold Native American burial grounds, local responders were barred from bringing in the heavy equipment needed to clear the debris, Saylor said. They had to wait for the federal government, which awarded a contract for the removal work only this summer.

"On Saturday, I got the call that I've been waiting for for two years — just four days after the operation began," Matthews said. Nancy Tucker's remains were discovered on Saturday, and their removal continued into Sunday evening. Matthews was among those at the site on Sunday.

"The moment we found a clear indication that this was Mrs. Tucker, everyone on the scene — we stopped. We cried. All of us cried. And we prayed," he said.

A medical examiner made the final positive identification on Monday afternoon.

A 2024 obituary for Jimmy Tucker said the couple met while both were serving in the U.S. Army and were married for 44 years.

Asked why first responders had refused to abandon the search, Saylor pointed to Washington County Sheriff Keith Sexton's pledge after the storm to recover every missing person.

"Why would you not want to bring what you could bring to the family, who had already lost a father?" Saylor said. "There was never a question of stopping."