A family Friday night is remembering a woman who suffered a heart attack in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
Shirley Rotolo’s family believes she would still be alive on Friday if she hadn’t lost cell service days earlier. According to her husband, Renato Rotolo, she suffered a heart attack early Saturday morning just north of Asheville in Weaverville.
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“We went to bed, and I thought she was having a nightmare at 2 a.m.,” he said.“I went to the other room. I tried to make a phone call to 911 [and] the emergency line; nothing. I went back, and we felt there was no pulse already.”
Rotolo said he tried to get his wife to a hospital in time, but the damaged roads and fallen trees made getting to the hospital more difficult.
“They tried to save her, but there was nothing they could do, unfortunately,” he said.
Several towns in western North Carolina have been hampered by flooding and wind damage and experienced difficulties in restoring power and cellular service in the area.
At its peak, more than 700,000 people in western North Carolina were without power in the immediate aftermath of Helene.
Rotolo believes the storm and the ensuing damage they saw on a drive the day after the storm hit put significant stress on her.
“It all really got to her,” he said.
Hours before Helene made landfall in the Florida Panhandle, the storm rapidly increased in strength, becoming a Category 4 hurricane by the time it hit land Thursday night, Sept. 26.
Rotolo said he will remember his wife, a teacher, a writer and an artist, as a compassionate person who helped anyone and everyone.
“An angel. I don’t think they make them like that anymore,” he said. “All positive, all good [and] she always helped everyone.”
Rotolo and his family drove four hours from Weaverville to Garner to stay with other family members, knowing things would never be the same.
“We’ll never be the same again. We will never be whole again,” he said.