A Ukrainian family reportedly escaped the war in their home country, only to die after moving to the US. Two years after arriving in North Carolina, the family lost their lives in Hurricane Helene. Now, the rest of their family are picking up the pieces after Hurricane Helene ravaged their home. But they are also remembering their family members who survived the war, only to die in a flood.
The storm was deadly, with new details about the devastation emerging weeks after the storm made landfall. Many people are left mourning lost loved ones.
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They lived with extended family in North Carolina.
Anastasia Novitnia-Segen and Dmytro Segen as well as Anastasia’s mother, Tetiana Novitnia, and their son, Yevhenii Segen, lived in a trailer on a piece of property where her sister Anna Wiebe and her family lived. Around 9 a.m. on September 27, Anna, her husband Ryan, and their two children left their house as it filled with water. They were going to stay with Ryan’s mother, who lived on the same property.
Thirty minutes later, the Wiebes went to go check on Anna’s family members who lived in a trailer on the same property. But they were gone.
The family was washed away in floodwaters.
“It was like staring at an ocean,” Ryan Wiebe told People in an interview. “One second, there’s a house with people in it, and then you go look at it and it’s not there,” he added. “It’s like an illusion.”
The Segens and Novitnia lived in a trailer they rented from Ryan Wiebe’s mother on the same property. When he had checked in with them, they said that the river, which they lived close to, hadn’t risen to them yet. Then they didn’t hear from them again.
On October 14, rescuers found and identified the bodies of Anastasia and Dmytro. Tetiana and Yevhenii’s bodies are still missing, but they are presumed dead. “The search team believes they’re just buried,” Ryan Wiebe’s brother Ricky Wiebe explained. “Buried under mud and debris so deep the dogs can’t find them. We don’t know if they’re ever going to be found.”
The family had come from Ukraine in 2022.
The Segens and Novitnia came to the US in June 2022, fleeing the war in Ukraine. Ryan Wiebe recalled Novitnia “didn’t want to leave” her native country. But ultimately the family was “happy” in the US.
“They lived in an apartment in Ukraine, and every day they would hear missiles and bombs go off,” he explained. “They were in an active war zone in terror, day and night, for months. I was thinking, ‘What’s a little bit of rain and wind? They’re so tough making it through war.’ I mean, who gets worried about a little bit of rain and wind?”
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The family had made a life here.
Dmytro got a construction job shortly after arriving in the US. He and his son both quickly learned to speak English. The 13-year-old loved taking things apart to see how they worked. Yevhenii also loved using his 3D printer. “He was really smart. He had a plan,” Ryan Wiebe said.
Meanwhile, his sister-in-law worked cleaning houses to save money for the future. She also loved cooking and thrift shopping. “Every meal she made was mind-blowing,” he said. “She was funny. Always happy.”
A GoFundMe was started to help the family rebuild.
Ricky Wiebe started a GoFundMe to help the Wiebe family rebuild. Much of the funds will also help the family to cover “funeral arrangements, medical expenses, unemployment during the grieving process, new employment opportunities,” and to help support the Wiebes’ teenage sons.
