North Carolina Hurricane Victim Forced to Rescue Himself After Authorities Refuse to Let Volunteer Pilot Save Him

A North Carolina man was forced to rescue himself from Hurricane Helene's wrath after he was separated from his wife during a rescue mission.

Mike and Susan Coffey held their cat as they watched their home in Lake Lure, North Carolina, get washed away by the flood waters caus ed by the Category 4 storm, according to WRIC. The couple then spent the next three days and nights in their car at the end of a cul-de-sac, rationing water and potato chips.

As rescue efforts picked up, the Coffeys began hearing the whir of helicopters in the air, but they soon learned none of the helicopters were small enough to pick them up, WRIC reported.

"I don't think we ever ran out of hope. We had each other, and that was the main thing," Mike told the news outlet.

The couple had started planning to cross the river themselves when they caught the attention of a pilot driving a small black helicopter. Inside the chopper were Jordan Seidhom, a pilot and volunteer firefighter, and his teen son, using their family's personal helicopter to assist with rescue efforts.

Seidhom landed the plane but because of the shaky ground, he told the couple he'd pick up and drop them off individually at a nearby command post. He left behind his son with Mike and took Susan first. When they landed, Seidhom and Susan were met with hostility.

The Lake Lure Fire and Emergency Management Asst. Chief Chris Melton asked Seidhom what he was doing and threatened him with arrest if he returned to pick up Mike and his son, whom Seidhom lovingly referred to as his co-pilot, because he was interfering with the town's rescue efforts.

Fearing arrest, Seidhom told the assistant chief he would return for his son and leave Mike on the mountain. Law enforcement officers told him and Susan they would rescue Mike within a few hours.

Mike told Queen City News that Seidhom was apologetic when he told him he couldn't take him with but said he grew worried about being away from his wife.

"He takes off, I had no idea where my wife was. I couldn't comprehend what was going on," Mike told Queen City News. "And when, if ever, I was going to be reunited with her, how long it would take for some other rescue crew to get back to me.

Instead of waiting, Mike acted. He grabbed his cat carrier and shimmied down the cliff to the river where he spotted a rescue crew. They spent the next hour getting Mike and his cat across the violent waters filled with detritus. When they did, Mike boarded a bus to meet his wife at the same command post Seidhom had left her hours earlier.

"I was so relieved that he was picked up and that we were back together," Susan said. "It's one of those things; we met in the parking lot. We're hugging and crying, just so relieved to have found each other again."

Despite Seidhom leaving one of them behind, the Coffeys are grateful for his efforts.

"He got my wife and at his own cost, at a risk to himself," Mike told Queen City News. "He was the one person who actually stopped to help just because he could... He's a hero."