John Savage said his grandparents were found hugging one another in the bed, adding that the family thinks it was God’s plan to take them together, rather than one suffer without the other.

SOUTH CAROLINA ( QUEEN CITY NEWS) — The updated death toll in South Carolina due to Hurricane Helene has risen to 36 fatalities, according to the SC Department of Public Safety. Of the 36 deaths, four are in the Queen City News viewing area.

As Hurricane Helene roared outside, the wind howling and branches snapping, John Savage went to his grandparents’ bedroom to make sure they were OK. “We heard one snap and I remember going back there and checking on them,

The storm battered communities across multiple states, flooding homes, causing mudslides and wiping out cell service - with heartbreaking stories of loss emerging in the wake of the deadly Hurricane

They were both fine, the dog was fine.” But not long after, Savage and his father heard a “boom” — the sound of one of the biggest trees on the property in Beech Island, South Carolina, crashing on top of his grandparents’ bedroom and killing them.