WALNUT ISLAND RIVER PARK, N.C. – Normally, Mitch Hampton guides visitors on thrilling whitewater rafting trips on the fast-flowing parts of the French Broad River, just north of Asheville, North Carolina.

However, on a recent day, he was in a raft with two volunteers, an agent from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations, and Onna, a 6-year-old black German Shepherd trained to find human remains. They navigated along the river’s banks and tributaries in search of bodies.

As they propelled downstream, they encountered a fallen tree and maneuvered the raft to steer around it. Onna, alert and eager, leapt from the raft to sniff around the shoreline for any signs of human remains.

A seasoned river guide and local fire department volunteer, Hampton has dedicated his skills—along with rafts and crew members—to the difficult task of recovering victims from the devastating floods in western North Carolina. Since the floods struck on September 29, he and his team have tirelessly searched numerous miles of the French Broad River, finding several bodies, although he refrained from sharing the precise number as many victims are still unidentified.

To cope with the grim nature of his work, Hampton follows a personal guideline:

“I keep reminding myself, ‘Don’t look at their face,'” he shared. “That’s the part that really troubles me.”

The floods caused by Helene have resulted in one of the most devastating natural disasters in recent U.S. history, with at least 228 confirmed deaths across the Southeast, 115 of which were in North Carolina, and numerous individuals still unaccounted for. As the waters withdrew, they exposed numerous victims scattered throughout the chaotic, debris-strewn landscape: Bodies ensnared in the roots of uprooted trees, hidden beneath collapsed roofs, trapped in submerged vehicles, or lodged along riverbanks.

‘Hit pretty hard’

In western North Carolina, where the majority of the deaths have occurred, emergency responders have shifted their focus from rescue operations to recovery efforts.

As of Sunday, 53 search and rescue teams—comprising local, state, and federally-led units from various regions—have been deployed, involving over 1,600 personnel to aid in post-Helene operations, as per North Carolina Emergency Management. Usually, around three FEMA task-force teams, with 35 to 70 members each, are dispatched to disaster sites initially, noted Robert Lipp, a spokesperson for the federal agency’s Incident Support Team overseeing these efforts.

Following Helene’s devastation, 22 teams were mobilized to the affected areas.

“The numbers are exceptionally high,” Lipp remarked. “Currently, we have more teams actively involved than we typically do.”

Many regions that faced severe destruction, with roads torn apart and entire towns swept away, still struggle to account for all the missing. In Garren Creek, a hillside town close to Chimney Rock, dual landslides devastated parts of the community, demolishing numerous homes and taking residents with them.

On the main street of the town, overturned vehicles lay scattered across muddy yards, and houses were reduced to rubble as if explosives detonated inside.

So far, 12 fatalities have been confirmed, with another five individuals still missing, reported Steve Nesbitt, 70, a local resident and former fire chief whose relatives are among the deceased.

“For our small town, we’ve suffered immensely,” he said, holding back tears.

After the storm, Joey Busalacchi, 54, was riding his ATV along the Nolichucky River near Tipton Hill when he encountered a body on a sandbank. In the subsequent days, he and fellow volunteers located four more bodies along the river. Swift-water rescue teams later retrieved the remains.

“It was difficult to process for a couple of days, but that’s the reality in situations like this,” Busalacchi reflected. “People lived along the river, and it rose dangerously.”

‘A slow-moving process’

On Saturday, personnel from Missouri Task Force One, a unit deployed by FEMA, launched a Zodiac inflatable boat into a large retention pond in Marion, located about 35 miles east of Asheville. Cadaver dogs—known as The “Human Remains Dogs,” as referred to by FEMA, had previously detected signs of human remains around the pond’s edges, indicating possible presence in the muddy water.

Rescue teams focused on a car that was partly submerged in the center of the pond. A Zodiac boat, carrying Mazie, a 7-year-old black lab, and her handler, navigated toward the vehicle while North Carolina National Guard members searched the banks, sifting through debris for any signs of victims.

As the boat approached the waterlogged vehicle, Mazie became alert but remained quiet. A drone circled overhead, providing visuals to the ground team.

Ultimately, the search did not result in finding any bodies. The teams then wrapped up and proceeded to their next location.

“It’s a gradual process,” said Randy Sanders, 68, who leads the task force. “But it’s necessary.”

In nearby Old Fort, members of Colorado Task Force One climbed onto a massive pile of debris while a Bobcat backhoe worked on moving trunks and branches. Just two days earlier, the team had found a woman’s body in a creek near the town’s center. Two of their canine partners had signaled “hits” near the debris pile a few miles away.

As the team members sifted through the materials—a method known as “delayering”—they came across a cow carcass, which likely led to the dog’s detection. The considerable size of the disaster area and the rough landscape, including steep canyons, swollen rivers, and hard-to-access villages, poses significant challenges, according to Lipp, the FEMA spokesperson.

Approximately 90 percent of structures in western North Carolina have been thoroughly searched and cleared based on Lipp’s reports, allowing them to concentrate more on rural areas.

“The challenges we face are immense,” he noted. “We’re not just dealing with a few issues; the complications are even more.”

‘Humbled by the river’

Hampton and his teams are organized through the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, independent from FEMA. Locating bodies is one hurdle, while retrieving them from the river adds to the difficulty, he explained.

At times, the bodies are secured to boats and taken to safe areas along the shore, where they’re placed in body bags and handed over to county officials. Other times, they must be removed from particularly dense wilderness regions.

The dogs are trained and guided by Lisa Briggs, the director of the Emergency and Disaster Management program at Western Carolina University and a prominent figure in cadaver dog training. At the start of the day, she issued the command “Hunt up!” to Onna, one of the cadaver dogs, prompting her to excitedly move toward the raft.

On the bank littered with fallen trees, roofing materials, and ripped clothing, Onna searched tirelessly, sniffing eagerly between the branches and the ground. Later, she rejoined the team in the raft as they floated downriver.

That day, Hampton’s raft worked along the right bank while anotherraft, manned by his twin brother Jack and other volunteers, covered the left. They floated over five miles before retreating around 5 p.m.

It was an unusual day: no bodies were recovered.

Hampton, who co-owns French Broad Adventures with his brother Jack and wife Korey, has been guiding tourists along the fast-moving river for over 30 years and is very familiar with it. One of the primary difficulties now is maneuvering around submerged trees and poles hidden beneath the water, which have caused damage to some of their equipment.

His fire department has initiated a fundraiser to repair and replace equipment that was damaged during storm recovery operations.

The French Broad River flows from Asheville north towards their region, bringing with it numerous victims from that area, he noted.

“You can’t predict how they’ll be when retrieved,” Hampton said. “Naturally, the longer they stay in the water, the more challenging recovery becomes.”

In happier times, Hampton has helped recover drowning victims from the river for his fire department, typically from accidents involving fishing or canoeing mishaps. However, he says the number of victims found since the disaster is unparalleled.

He recognizes that recovering bodies provides vital closure for families looking for their missing loved ones, but the work has certainly taken an emotional toll.

Despite this, Hampton, who began canoeing on the French Broad with his grandfather at just 10 years old, maintains that the disaster has not affected his admiration for the river.

“I was taught to respect and feel humbled by the river,” he remarked. “You can’t ever think you’re in control.”