A mother remains missing in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene swept the family home into a river before her husband lost grip of her hand in the flood.

Kim Ashby and her husband Rod had just completed building their dream home in Elk Park, NC, when disaster struck last Thursday. Kim and Rod had decided to visit their newly build mountain home before the storm slammed into the state in a bid to ensure it would be secure.

However, her worried children, Chris and Jessica Meidinger, have spoken out, saying the couple “didn’t know that it was going to to be what it turned into” – as Helene wreaked havoc across southern states – with 166 now confirmed dead. Rod had built the home with his own two hands, before their dream getaway space turned into a nightmare as Helene slammed into their town on Thursday night.

Chris and Jess last heard from their mom on Thursday night, and explained to ABC11 that Kim and Rod had made sure to lift anything precious off the ground floor of the home – which Rod had specifically built a 12ft higher than the last record highest flood.

Kim had called her children to say they had made it safely to the home and reassured them flooding was far from their home. Later in Friday morning, Kim was reportedly pouring coffee when a violent crack sounded through the house – later realising a supportive beam had cracked.

By the time they rushed to get to higher ground, it was too late and the couple were forced to simply shelter in their bedroom with their three dogs. Huddling on their mattress, the house was being swept away before it suddenly slammed into the river bank and collapsed around them.

Kim and Rod clutched one another’s hands as the storm water submerged them and their home, however the powerful flood later slammed them into a tree and ripped them apart. Rod was found 24 hours later on Saturday. Chris said: “That’s what split them apart, and he was not able to hold on to her.”

“There was, I guess, a tree hanging down and he was able to grab on to that and get himself out of the water, and he was able to crawl up the mountain to a neighbor’s house where he was safe, but before doing that, he went up and down the river and they couldn’t find her — and he’s been searching ever since,” Jessica said.

It comes as search teams and cadaver dogs braved the treacherous conditions in western North Carolina’s mountains on Tuesday, continuing their grim task of locating victims. Buncombe County, which includes Ashevillea city celebrated for its vibrant arts scene and outdoor pursuitssuffered greatly, with at least 57 deaths reported.

In the aftermath of the storm in Swannanoa, a quaint community just outside Asheville, the retreat of floodwaters exposed a chaotic scene with cars piled atop each other and mobile homes swept away. The landscape was marred by mud-slicked roads and gaping sinkholes.