Body identified as man who texted wife as Helene flood engulfed him, TN cops say
A crew clearing debris in East Tennessee has solved the heartbreaking mystery of one man's disappearance during floods linked to Hurricane Helene.
Steven Cloyd and his dog, Orion, vanished Sept. 26 while trying to escape the rising Nolichucky River in Washington County, Tennessee, officials say.
His Jeep and dog were found safe within days, but Cloyd remained missing. Then, on May 1, workers found a body tangled in debris along the river and a coroner confirmed what Cloyd's family long suspected.
'With heavy hearts, we the family of Steve Cloyd announce that our husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, and friend was found,' his wife, Keli McDaniel Cloyd, wrote in a Facebook post. 'We have the patriarch of our family again. ... He is in the light, he is at peace and he is free and he is perfect.'
Details of how Steven Cloyd died have not been released, but 'evidence at the scene indicates this is a flood-related death,' the sheriff's office said.
Steven Cloyd was found just under 5 miles from where he was last seen, near his home in the 200 block of Charlie Carson Road in Jonesborough.
His last minutes were shared in a series of messages to his wife, including the arrival of floodwaters at the family's doorstep, his wife reported in a Sept. 27 Facebook post. Their home, south of the Nolichucky River, was ultimately 'submerged,' his wife says.
'The minute the basement filled completely up Steve knew next was main floor and took he and Orion to safety in the Jeep, the issue, the Jeep battery was dead and his phone was about to die,' Keli McDaniel Cloyd wrote.
'He kept me as updated as possible but last I knew he was in the Jeep and it kept moving with flow of the water, stopped briefly and kept going, he kept texting saying 'here we go again' meaning the Jeep was on the move again.'
The messages stopped at 2:29 p.m., she wrote.
An autopsy is scheduled to learn more about how Steven Cloyd died, officials said. He is one of two Helene victims who remained missing in Washington County. The other, Nancy Tucker, vanished from her home during the flood and has yet to be found, the sheriff's office says.
The region got 6 to 9 inches of rain as the remnants of Hurricane Helene crossed the mountainous border along Tennessee and North Carolina, according to an East Tennessee State University study.
'Floodwaters raced downhill with such a force that rivers overflowed and homes were dislodged from their foundations,' FEMA reports.
'The Nolichucky River washed away bridges and submerged entire neighborhoods and farmlands. Floodwaters poured over the 111-year-old Nolichucky Dam near Greeneville at 1.3 million gallons per second – twice the water flow of Niagara Falls.'
Jonesborough is a 270-mile drive east from Nashville.
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