A South Carolina couple were found deceased in an embrace after a tree crashed through their bedroom ceiling during Hurricane Helene.
Marcia and Jerry Savage, 74 and 78, were found by relatives at their home in Beech Island who went to check on them as the storm raged outside.
"We heard one snap and I remember going back there and checking on them," said grandson John Savage, 22.
"They were both fine, the dog was fine."
But not long after, Mr Savage and his father heard a "boom" - the sound of one of the biggest trees on the property crashing on top of his grandparents' bedroom and killing them.
“All you could see was ceiling and tree," he said. "I was just going through sheer panic at that point."
He said his grandparents had been found hugging one another in their bed, with grandfather Jerry thought to have “rolled over” to try and protect Marcia when the tree fell.
He added that the family believed it was God's plan to take them together, rather than one suffering without the other.
The Savages are among the more than 150 people confirmed dead in one of the deadliest storms in US history.
The dead include two South Carolina firefighters killed when a tree fell on their truck.
The storm battered communities across multiple states, flooding homes, causing mudslides and wiping out phone service.
A GoFundMe organised for the Savages’ funeral expenses said they were survived by their son and daughter, along with four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Tens of thousands of neighbouring North Carolina residents have remained without running water six days after Hurricane Helene slammed into Florida and carved a destructive path through much of the US Southeast.
The powerful storm inundated the western part of the state with catastrophic flooding, destroying pipes, damaging water plants and cutting off power.
One-fifth of the 1 million residents in the western half of North Carolina either had no water at all or low system pressure on Wednesday, according to an online state database.
About 1 million homes and businesses across five states remained without electricity.
In hard-hit Asheville, the municipal water supply system, which serves more than 150,000 people, was badly damaged.
Many residents have been warned to expect dry taps for days or even weeks while pipes are repaired while those with water have been urged to boil it before consuming.
