Military Mom Was 'Worried Sick' When She Couldn’t Reach Teen Son After Helene, Then Her Sister Called (Exclusive)
"I called many times and you [couldn’t] get through,” mom Michelle Martin tells PEOPLE
Gabe Martin, a freshman at the University of North Carolina Asheville, rode out Hurricane Helene inside his dorm last month
"Waters in some areas that rose 40 feet and the whole River Arts District was washed away," Martin tells PEOPLE
Gabe's mom Michelle, who works as a public relations employee at NORAD and US Northern Command, says she's "thankful" her son "was one of the ones that was spared" — but that being initially unable to contact him was incredibly difficult
A military mom is thankful her 19-year-old son was spared from Hurricane Helene, while the college freshman says he’s still “at a loss for words” after the University of North Carolina Asheville sustained significant damage as a result of the storm.
"I couldn't have ever imagined that this would take place,” Texas native Gabe Martin tells PEOPLE.
But after barreling through Florida’s Big Bend area as a Category 4 storm on Thursday, Sept. 26, Helene made its way through western North Carolina and wreaked havoc in Buncombe County, where the liberal arts college is located.
Martin, an engineering major, decided to ride out his first hurricane, which by then had weakened into a tropical storm, as he sheltered in place from his campus dorm.
“I figured, how bad could it be? We're in the Appalachian Mountains, I'm in a dormitory made out of brick and I'm going to be perfectly fine,” he says.
Although the dormitories were unscathed and the campus buildings “didn't necessarily sustain damage unless trees fell on them,” the freshman shares that resources like cell service, power and even water began to dwindle as the city suffered catastrophic flooding.
Over 1,000 miles away, Gabe’s mom Michelle had been tracking the storm as a public affairs employee at North American Aerospace Defense Command and the United States Northern Command in Colorado Springs, Co.
“No one really expected it to track all the way where it did and create such devastation in the form that it did,” the 47-year-old military mom tells PEOPLE.
On Friday, Sept. 27, Gabe woke up without power.
“The cell towers went out over time that same day,” he continues. “So there was this mass hysteria that had broken out because nobody was able to communicate with the outside world.”
As the former Marine was waiting anxiously for North Carolina to give her team the go-ahead to start helping, she says that she was “worried sick” about Gabe.
“I called many times and you [couldn’t] get through,” she says. “So the only information I'm getting is what we see here at the Command. And to Gabe's words, It was devastating to see what was happening to people there and not really knowing where my son was at the time.”
Related: South Carolina Couple Killed During Hurricane Helene Found Hugging Each Other in Bedroom
Eventually, Gabe says that a nearby fire station deployed a mobile data unit, and he was finally able to communicate with the outside world.
After he was forced to evacuate the campus, he made his way to his aunt’s house in Charlotte. Michelle remembers getting a phone call from her sister on Saturday, Sept. 22, saying, “I've received him. He's here, he's safe."
“It was just as you could imagine, just a sigh of relief because I'm watching the devastation on this end and what we're about to have to go do with our military assets because it was so bad,” she says. “Then just so thankful that he was one of the ones that was spared.”
State officials have reported that 95 people were killed by the storm – including 42 in Buncombe County, according to Newsweek.
After traveling to his aunt's house, Gabe went to Chapel Hill to connect with friends. Then, once he learned his campus had closed, he flew home to Texas, where his dad Carl still lives, once he learned the campus had closed. (The university said they will resume online coursework on Oct. 28, but will remain online for the rest of the semester.)
Related: Florida Student, 21, Goes Viral Documenting How She Sheltered on Campus from Hurricane Helene
As the community of Asheville focuses on rebuilding, Gabe says he’s heartbroken by what’s been lost.
“Waters in some areas that rose 40 feet and the whole River Arts District was washed away,” the student says. “I mean, reduced to rubble. The businesses don't stand anymore. It's just piles of rocks and dirt.”
He says, “I fell in love with the town, and that's one of the primary reasons I wanted to go to the school.”
Find out how you can help the victims of Hurricane Helene here.
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