Mobile morgue created in Avery County ‘puts things in perspective’

NEWLAND, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — As the death toll rises from Hurricane Helene, preparations have been made to receive the bodies of those killed by the storm.

Before the hurricane, the Avery County Sheriff’s Office asked for a mobile morgue to serve as a place to take those killed in the storm.

‘The heartbeat’

The county operations center is busy.

“This is the heartbeat of the whole thing, this is where all the communications are,” said Avery County Sheriff Mike Henley.

The operations center is where Alisha Woodie worked before the hurricane, when it was the county’s Cooperative Extension office.

“I’m the 4-H assistant agent,” said Woodie.

Her regular workplace has been turned into the operations center coordinating first responders during the Hurricane Helene recovery process.

“That’s where my mind has been, is with the kids,” said Woodie.

She’s a former teacher’s assistant at Freedom Trail Elementary near the Elk River, one of the areas Helene hit the hardest.

“We had a child that lost his mother, and he was just a great child, and she was a sweet lady,” said Woodie.

The emotional toll on the community is felt by everyone, even the sheriff.

“Just puts things in perspective that there’s been a loss of life and there’s nothing we can do about it, it’s here,” said Avery County Sheriff Mike Henley, getting emotional.

He made arrangements to station a mobile morgue at the hospital, as a place to take those killed in the storm.

Avery County has had three deaths from Hurricane Helene; the state reported a total of 65 as of Friday afternoon.

“That does touch… as you can see, I’m emotional about that but we’ll get through it,” said Henley.

Woodie says her former students are all safe.

“The children are, that we know of, as of yesterday they were all accounted for, thank goodness, that’s a blessing in and of itself,” said Woodie.

She’s grateful for all the good news coming from tragedy.

“We’ve got a lot to be proud of in this community, the way people have pulled together,” said Henley.

The sheriff says communications are improving every day, and he promises people that if they’re worried and haven’t heard from loved ones, the sheriff’s office will not forget you.

They’re keeping a list and doing as many welfare checks as they can and working to get people in touch with family members.

If you need to report a location in Avery County where the sheriff’s office needs to do a welfare check, a search-and-rescue or recover a body, call the operations center at 828-733-5855.

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