When Hurricane Helene made landfall in South Carolina, John Savage went to his grandparents’ bedroom to see if they were doing okay. “We heard one snap and I remember going back there and checking on them,” the 22-year-old said of his grandparents, Marcia, 74, and Jerry, 78, who were lying in bed. “They were both fine, the dog was fine.
” But soon after, Savage and his father heard a loud “boom” – which turned out to be the sound of one of the biggest trees on the Beech Island, South Carolina, property, crashing on top of his grandparents’ bedroom, killing them both, per AP and CBS News . “All you could see was ceiling and tree,” he said. “I was just going through sheer panic at that point.
” Astonishingly, the elderly couple was found hugging one another in the bed. To John Savage and his family, it was God’s elaborate plan to take them together, rather than leaving one to suffer without the other. “When they pulled them out of there, my grandpa apparently heard the tree snap beforehand and rolled over to try and protect my grandmother,” he said.
The couple is among those who died in one of the deadliest storms in U.S. history.
At least 200 people were confirmed dead across multiple states as of Oct. 3, according to CBS News. Many of them died in a similar fashion, as victims of trees that fell on homes or cars.
The dead include two South Carolina firefighters killed when a tree fell on their truck. The hurricane, which flooded homes, caused mud.
