Man Dives Into Raging Water to Save Woman Caught in Helene Floodwaters, Then Starts GoFundMe to Help Her Rebuild
“I couldn't leave her,” Eddie Hunnell tells PEOPLE
Courtesy of Eddie Hunnell
Eddie Hunnell saved Leslie Worth, then was joined by her grateful husband PhilEddie Hunnell was in Grassy Creek, N.C., for his son's wedding when he learned there was a woman trapped in a nearby house that was surrounded by rising floodwaters
Fearing that the house might collapse on her, Hunnell had the woman jump into the river -- and when he couldn't reach her himself by canoe, he jumped in the water himself
“I had told her to jump and she did. I couldn't leave her,” he tells PEOPLE
Eddie Hunnell was in western North Carolina last weekend to celebrate his son’s wedding, which put him in the right place to dive into raging Hurricane Helene storm waters to rescue a woman in need.
"I couldn't leave her," Hunnell, a 57-year-old engineer in Holly Springs, N.C., tells PEOPLE. "I couldn't watch her die.”
Knowing rain was in the forecast, Hunnell arrived at the River House Inn, a B&B in Grassy Creek, on Thursday, Sept. 26. The next morning, it was raining hard and the B&B lost power and had several trees fall nearby.
Around 2:30 p.m., Hunnell was in the hotel lounge when he overheard someone tell the B&B owner that a woman was trapped in her house about 250 yards up the road. “I said, 'Guys, let's go. Let's see what we can do to help,' " he recalls.
Related: Determined Dad Treks Nearly 30 Miles Through Hurricane Debris to Be at Daughter's Wedding
After getting there, Hunnell says he spoke to Phil Worth, who said the woman was his wife Leslie.
At that point, the house was surrounded by water, so they called 911. But before the rescue crew could arrive, Hunnell saw a canoe, then grabbed a life vest and an oar and started rowing.
The water was "moving too fast" to get the canoe up to the house, so instead he yelled over the loud, raging waters to Leslie, telling her that if the house started moving, she needed to jump into the water.
“I didn’t want the house to collapse on her because she'd surely drown,” Hunnell explains.
Then, Hunnell saw the roof of another house floating down the river, and he knew it was only a matter of time before it struck the home Leslie was trapped in. When it did, he says it wasn't long before Leslie's home "started coming apart."
As the back of the house fell away, Hunnell saw Leslie standing in the second-story bedroom wearing a life jacket. "So I yelled, 'Jump, jump,' " he says.
Courtesy of Eddie Hunnell
Eddie Hunnell rescuing Leslie WorthRelated: Florida Student, 21, Goes Viral Documenting How She Sheltered on Campus from Hurricane Helene
After she jumped into the water, Hunnell tried to get her in the canoe, but the conditions made that too difficult. So Hunnell, who grew up swimming in rivers, came up with a new plan: he was going to get in the water and swim to her.
“I had told her to jump and she did. I couldn't leave her,” he says, adding that he “felt like I had enough swimming ability that I could get her out."
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Courtesy of Eddie Hunnell
When Hunnell reached her, he grabbed onto the back of the life vest she was wearing. “I said, "I've got you. Just kick' ” he recalls.
And after about 250 yards of riding the current, he was finally able to make it towards the shore to the point where he was able to stand up and walk them the rest of the way.
Although overjoyed to see them, Hunnell says his wife did have some words for him.
“My wife yelled at me when I got out of the river, but that’s okay," he says. "She didn’t want to have a wedding and a funeral the same day.”
Related: Man and Dog Rescued by Coast Guard as Sailboat Sinks Off Coast of Florida During Hurricane Helene
Courtesy of Eddie Hunnell
Leslie Worth and her husbandThat night, the couple joined Hunnell and his family at his son’s rehearsal dinner. "They had nowhere to go, nothing to eat, nowhere to go to stay warm,” he says.
He started a GoFundMe to help the couple, and made the first donation himself.
“There was only one thing in that house you couldn't replace — and that was Leslie,” he says. “The family is overjoyed. It's causing me to tear up here. Sorry. So for that reason, of course I'm very happy I did it.”
In a message to PEOPLE, Phil adds of Eddie, "he is a true hero."
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