WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Friends of West Palm Beach native Ryan Wiebe are turning to WPTV for help after his house and family in North Carolina were ravaged by Hurricane Helene.
Wiebe grew up in West Palm Beach but moved to Burnsville, northeast of Asheville, to start and raise his family.
"It's like a nightmare every morning when you wake up. It's just shocking disbelief, sickening to be in it and see what happened," said Wiebe.
The house is still standing, but the flood waters made it to the ceiling of his first floor of his two story house.
"It's been about a month, and we haven't done anything to the home except we started working on it today to clean out the water and the mud and the water and furniture and the insulation," said Wiebe.
He said he met his wife from Ukraine on Juno Beach, when he asked her out on a date.
They fell in love and the two have 16 and 13-year-old sons.
When the war broke out with Ukraine, his wife's mother, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew moved into a trailer a quarter mile down the road on their property.
"They loved it. It was always a dream for them to come here and it happened," said Wiebe. "The two years that they had here. It was a great two years."
Their dreams were shattered when Hurricane Helene tore through their town.
The heavy rainfall caused a nearby river to overflow and start flooding into their house.
Wiebe was forced to evacuate to higher ground mid-storm with his wife and his two sons.
"It just didn't stop and then we run out this back door," said Wiebe. "Oh the wind was I would say 100 miles an hour. It was knocking over trees."
When they returned to check in on their family from Ukraine, they found tragedy.
"We run back to their place and the dry land that their house used to be on was just under 30 feet of water, and their house was gone and they were gone," said Wiebe.
His brother in law's body was recovered a mile and a half down stream.
A few days later, 9 miles further down the river, rescue crews found the body of his sister-in-law.
"There was a big bridge with a bunch of debris that got caught in the bridge and she was there in the debris pile," said Wiebe.
His mother in law and 13-year-old nephew were never found.
"He was like a little engineer, he liked to install anything with electronics and learn," said Wiebe. "Mother-in-law was great. Real tough woman. Cooked great food, just a really good mother and a really great person."
He said they have already put to rest his brother-in-law and sister-in-law and have arrangements ready in case the bodies of his nephew and mother-in-law are found.
"By not finding them, it even compounds the disbelief and the shock," said Wiebe.
Right now the family is asking for help through their grief as they plan to rebuild and recover in a safer part of town.
If you'd like to help, you can do so on their fundraising page, here.
