Houston woman with family in North Carolina says community is in need after Category 4 storm Helene

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A Houstonian is counting her blessings after her family barely escaped a mudslide that took over their town of Burnsville, North Carolina, a state in the path of Hurricane Helene.

Laura Shelton is a doctoral candidate at the University of Houston, but her family resides in North Carolina. She was following everything happening with Helene from Houston.

On Thursday, she told ABC13 that her family barely missed getting swallowed alive by a mudslide in the wake of Helene.

RELATED: Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130

The confirmed death toll for Hurricane Helene rose to at least 200 people as of Wednesday evening, The Associated Press reported, making it the deadliest hurricane since Katrina hit Louisiana in 2005.

Shelton said her grandparents and her mother lost everything in the quick-rising mudslide.

"They hear all this water rushing, trees and debris, and then all of a sudden, just logs and rocks," she said. "Debris came all the way up to where they were, and it stopped right before where they were."

After the mudslide, Shelton's family's neighbors ended up at their house waiting to be rescued. A neighbor who's an army vet and trained in search and rescue was able to get them all out.

There were at least three confirmed deaths.

RELATED: Hurricane Helene's victims include first responders who died helping others

Shelton says the community needs help with the devastation following the Category 4 storm.

She's sharing her family's story to spread the word, as many people are trapped with nowhere to go.

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