Asheville Watchdog is bringing you the stories behind the staggering loss of life from Helene, the children, parents, grandparents, multiple generations of a single family, all gone in one of the worst natural disasters to hit the mountains of western North Carolina. This is the third installment.
Zubila Shafiq saw her husband, Omar Khan, for the last time on the night of Sept. 26.
Khan was in his van near the Swannanoa River on River’s Edge Road in the Azalea neighborhood when Shafiq and their two young boys, Zach, 9, and Zayn, 7, talked to him on FaceTime. Shafiq invited him to her place – they were separated – but he declined. Instead, he parked his van higher up a hill. Then they hung up.
“That was the last I saw him,” Shafiq said. “On FaceTime. And he was actually still in his car.”
What happened after their call became clear over the ensuing days, after the floodwaters subsided and the debris settled, allowing Shafiq to go on a regionwide search for Khan, one that ultimately led her to his neighbors and a grim story of what were likely his last moments.
Samira Zoobi and Omar Khan lived on different floors at this River’s Edge Road apartment building. // Credit: Google Earth
Khan, 44, returned to his residence at the Riverview Apartments on River’s Edge Road east of Asheville after the FaceTime call. Neighbors told Shafiq he had not evacuated.
A little before 11 a.m. on Sept. 27, neighbors threw Khan ropes in the hopes of rescuing him. A “civilian rescue,” Shafiq called the vain attempt to assist him in a Facebook post after the storm.
“I tried to save him,” one of Khan’s neighbors told her.
The neighbor told Shafiq that they had talked to Khan that morning as he and Samira Zoobi, a fellow resident of the apartment complex, were perched on a balcony above the water.
“Thank you,” Khan responded, according to the neighbor. “God bless you!”
Then the apartment broke away and spun down the bloated, raging Swannanoa.
Neighbors called 911. Rescue workers arrived in about an hour, Shafiq said, but it was too late. By the neighbor’s account, the building had come off its foundation — which, according to photos, was metal stilts — flipped on its side, drifted away and became lodged on a riverbank.
The stilts that Samira Zoobi and Omar Khan’s apartment building sat on were battered and the building floated far away from its original location. // Photo by Molly Anne Sheehan
The neighbor threw rocks at the building to see if someone would respond. Search and rescue workers went in, but found no one.
Days later, Shafiq tried to get to Khan’s apartment. That proved impossible, but she came close enough for one of her sons to spot something amid the debris.
“That looks like our van,” he told her.
Someone working on the rescue and recovery efforts in the area asked Shafiq, “Do you want me to go check and see? What’s your license plate?”
He walked down the road and returned.
A punch in the gut
“It was our van, and it was completely demolished,” Shafiq said. “It just, like, punched me in the gut, because I was like, ‘That’s the van. That was supposed to be safe.’”
Khan was not in it.
Shafiq and others called and visited organizations everywhere: the VA hospital, the A-B Tech medical shelter, the Ag Center emergency shelter. No Khan.
Strangely, during Shafiq’s search, Khan’s texts started coming through days after they were sent as she got close to spots of cell service. He had used fellow tenant Zoobi’s phone to try to reach her.
Omar Khan and his son Zach, at right, shared the same birthday. Here they are shown at a recent celebration. // Photo provided by Zubila Shafiq
“‘My unit’s submerged. I’m at the top floor with another tenant. I’m okay. I don’t have my phone,’” Shafiq said, summarizing her husband’s texts. He lived on the second floor of the apartment building and had gone up to the third floor with Zoobi.
“Hoping that the search and rescue efforts are continuing, especially in the Azalea area near [John B. Lewis Soccer Fields] and [the Blue Ridge] Parkway bridge,” she posted on Facebook on Oct. 2. “Please continue to be on the lookout and contact me or anyone close to me with any information.”
Shafiq wrote in the post that people looking for Khan were keeping track of recovery efforts and making calls to more than 20 organizations.
“We just need to know where Daddy is. Please keep Praying!!!” she wrote Oct. 6.
Two days later, she started her post with “Omar still missing,” but followed it with a painful acknowledgement: “The search efforts are continuing, but FEMA and APD explicitly said it is now “recovery” (of bodies) not rescue at this point,” she wrote. “Had a few difficult conversations today, which took an emotional toll on me. Honestly, it was hard to be hopeful today.”
The Asheville Police Department kept in touch throughout Shafiq’s search, she said.
Finally, on Oct. 9, 13 days after Khan disappeared, she got the call she dreaded.
“Do you have a quiet place?” an APD employee asked her.
“And she said, ‘We found him,’” Shafiq said.
Khan’s body was recovered Oct. 9 on Moffitt Branch Road near Azalea Baptist Church, according to his death certificate.
A cadaver dog had alerted recovery crews of a body late on the 8th, Shafiq said. An officer had stayed with Khan’s body overnight. He was identified Oct. 9 by a license and passport found in his pocket.
‘I don’t know what the days ahead will look like’
“We all know how smart he was, and he put his license and passport in his pockets,” Shafiq posted on Facebook on Oct. 9. “Fingerprints also confirmed. He was found on Moffitt branch road near his apartment/car so I pray he did not suffer. I don’t know what the days ahead will look like and I may not remember any of it.”
Khan “was amazing,” Shafiq told The Watchdog. “Super compassionate, always going above and beyond. Really tried to help people. Was always dependable.”
The family couldn’t have a traditional Muslim burial for Khan but they had a graveside service Oct. 13. About 70 people came, including one person who drove 15 hours.
Khan was a pharmacist at the Westgate Shopping Center CVS. He’d been a pharmacist since 2014, Shafiq said. Well known by patients and the community, he had worked in Brevard and on Patton Avenue and Tunnel Road.
“He was a good person,” Shafiq said. “He had a pure heart and almost like an innocence. I don’t know how to say it, because he was cynical about things, but also, so innocent because he was a good person.”
He volunteered his time with Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry’s pharmacy. He helped out at flu shot clinics. He volunteered at his son’s daycare kitchen.
“If he saw something that he could do and he could help with, he did it,” Shafiq said.
And, to his last days, Shafiq said, Omar was always working on himself.
“He wanted to be dedicated to service,” she said. “And if that was his goal, I think he reached that goal.”
Samira Zoobi
Samira Zoobi, 28, had been standing on a balcony of her apartment building with Omar Khan waiting for a rescue, when the Swannanoa River swept the structure away.
Zoobi’s best friend, Molly Anne Sheehan, collected accounts of what happened to Zoobi from several witnesses and shared them with The Watchdog.
A Sept. 27 Instagram story by Samira Zoobi shows the floodwaters rising around her River’s Edge Road apartment in the Azalea area. The building was swept away shortly afterward. // Photo provided by Molly Anne Sheehan
“Sami’s apartment in the RiverView complex, was on the second floor of a four-unit, two-story building that was on stilts by the Swannanoa River,” Sheehan said. “Around 8 a.m., Sami posted a story on Instagram showing the water level from a bedroom window. The water was already completely covering the road that led out of the neighborhood to Tunnel Road.”
The water was all the way up the stilts the apartment rested on, Sheehan said, more than one story tall but not yet flooding the apartments.
That changed over the next couple of hours.
“By 10:30 a.m., the last texts from Sami were received before cell service went out; the water was up to the second floor where Sami was with a neighbor [Khan] waiting to be rescued by boat; the entire bottom apartments were filled with water,” Sheehan said. “This made the building very unstable, and it eventually ripped off the stilts and floated down the road a little. At this point, early afternoon, help was there actively trying to get them all rescued, the team couldn’t get ropes to them before the entire apartment came loose to the water again and swept it, and the people, farther down the road.”
After the displaced building was found the same day, search and rescue crews searched it, but didn’t find Zoobi or Khan.
A photo taken by Samira Zoobi on Sept. 27 shows floodwaters approaching the apartment. // Photo provided by Molly Anne Sheehan
Zoobi’s body was found two days later, nearly a mile and ½ from the apartment, according to a death certificate. The cause of death was listed as “landslide injuries including drowning.”
Zoobi’s mother, Collete, told The Watchdog she did not want to revisit the story of her daughter’s death. Zoobi’s father, Fadi, did not respond to a request for an interview.
“Fadi and I are grateful for all the support everyone has provided,” Colette Zoobi said in an Oct. 2 Facebook post. “Asheville experienced catastrophic floods this past weekend. Samira J Zoobi was unable to be rescued. Our family is devastated. I miss her so much. I appreciate all the support we have received from our friends, family, Samira’s friends and coworkers.”
Asheville T-Shirt Co., where Zoobi worked as a graphic designer, posted on Facebook about Zoobi’s death Oct. 2:
Samira Zoobi worked as a graphic designer at Asheville T-Shirt Co. // Photo provided by Molly Anne Sheehan
“Yesterday, we lost a beloved member of our Asheville T-Shirt family. Our hearts are shattered and we are left broken. Samira was all the things you would come to love and adore in a friend. They were the kindest of souls and incredibly talented in their craft. We were blessed to have spent 3.5 years working alongside Samira; the fond and quirky memories of Samira will forever remain in our hearts. …
“Samira, we love you. We’ll miss you. You will always be in our hearts.”
Zoobi studied new media at UNC Asheville and minored in anthropology.
“Sami’s the most creative person I know, even in their saddest times,” Sheehan told The Watchdog. “Sami was not only my decade-long best friend, Sami was my confidant, therapist, best advice giver, voice of reason, my calm, my art pal, creative twin, my hairdresser, dermatologist, nail tech, screen printer, my life coach… so much more. Sami just played so many roles for so many people, so generous and truly caring, Sami did everything they could for their friends, was the best gift giver, and just such a genuine and thoughtful soul.”
Sheehan said the two were best friends for a decade and at one point lived just 15 minutes apart without knowing it.
“It took years and years for us to actually meet in Asheville in 2014, but we were always so close before we knew how actually close we would become,” she said.
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Andrew R. Jones is a Watchdog investigative reporter. Email arjones@avlwatchdog.org. The Watchdog’s local reporting during this crisis is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.
SUMMARY: Donald van der Vaart, a former North Carolina environmental secretary and climate skeptic, has been appointed to the North Carolina Utilities Commission by Republican Treasurer Brad Briner. Van der Vaart, who previously supported offshore drilling and fracking, would oversee the state’s transition to renewable energy while regulating utility services. His appointment, which requires approval from the state House and Senate, has drawn opposition from environmental groups. Critics argue that his views contradict clean energy progress. The appointment follows a controversial bill passed by the legislature, granting the treasurer appointment power to the commission.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-30 14:47:00
(The Center Square) – Called “crypto-friendly legislation” by the leader of the chamber, a proposal on digital assets on Wednesday afternoon passed the North Carolina House of Representatives.
Passage was 71-44 mostly along party lines.
The NC Digital Assets Investments Act, known also as House Bill 92, has investment requirements, caps and management, and clear definitions and standards aimed at making sure only qualified digital assets are included. House Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, said the state would potentially join more than a dozen others with “crypto-friendly legislation.”
With him in sponsorship are Reps. Stephen Ross, R-Alamance, Mark Brody, R-Union, and Mike Schietzelt, R-Wake.
Nationally last year, the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act – known as FIT21 – passed through the U.S. House in May and in September was parked in the Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.
Dan Spuller, cochairman of the North Carolina Blockchain Initiative, said the state has proven a leader on digital asset policy. That includes the Money Transmitters Act of 2016, the North Carolina Regulatory Sandbox Act of 2021, and last year’s No Centrl Bank Digital Currency Pmts to State. The latter was strongly opposed by Gov. Roy Cooper, so much so that passage votes of 109-4 in the House and 39-5 in the Senate slipped back to override votes, respectively, of 73-41 and 27-17.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
The article presents a factual report on the passage of the NC Digital Assets Investments Act, highlighting the legislative process, party-line votes, and related legislative measures. It does not adopt a clear ideological stance or frame the legislation in a way that suggests bias. Instead, it provides neutral information on the bill, its sponsors, and relevant background on state legislative activity in digital asset policy. The tone and language remain objective, focusing on legislative facts rather than promoting a particular viewpoint.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-30 11:04:00
(The Center Square) – Hurricane Helene recovery in North Carolina is being impacted by a federal agency with seven consecutive failed audits and the elimination of hundreds of its workers in the state.
Democratic Attorney General Jeff Jackson joined a lawsuit on behalf of the state with 23 other states and the District of Columbia against AmeriCorps, known also as the Corporation for National and Community Service. The state’s top prosecutor says eight of 19 AmeriCorps programs and 202 jobs are being lost in the state by the cuts to the federal program.
Jeff Jackson, North Carolina attorney general
NCDOJ.gov
The litigation says responsibility lies with the Department of Government Efficiency established by President Donald Trump.
“These funds – which Congress already appropriated for North Carolina – are creating jobs, cleaning up storm damage, and helping families rebuild,” Jackson said. “AmeriCorps must follow the law so that people in western North Carolina can confidently move forward.”
Jackson, in a release, said 50 of the 750 volunteers terminated on April 15 were in North Carolina. Three programs with 84 people employed were impacted on Friday when AmeriCorps cut federal funds to grant programs that run through the North Carolina Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service.
Project MARS was helping in 18 western counties, providing supplies and meals to homebound and stranded families. Clothing, crisis hotlines and school supports were also aided. Project Conserve was in 25 western counties helping with debris removal, tree replanting, storm-system repairs and rain-barrel distribution. Project POWER helped large-scale food donations for more than 10,000 people in the hard-hit counties of Buncombe, Henderson and Madison.
The White House has defended its accountability actions and did so on this move. AmeriCorps has a budget of about $1 billion.
Helene killed 107 in North Carolina and caused an estimated $60 billion damage.
The storm made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in Dekle Beach, Fla., on Sept. 26. It dissipated over the mountains of the state and Tennessee, dropping more than 30 inches in some places and over 24 consistently across more.
U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., said last year AmeriCorps has a legacy of “incompetence and total disregard for taxpayer money.” She was chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and Workforce, which requested the report showing repeated failed audits and financial management troubles.
“AmeriCorps,” Foxx said, “receives an astounding $1 billion in taxpayer funds every year but hasn’t received a clean audit for the past seven years. As instances of fraud continue, the agency has proven time and time again incapable of reforming itself and should never be given another opportunity to abuse taxpayer dollars.”
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Right
The article presents an ideological stance that leans toward the right, particularly in its portrayal of AmeriCorps, a federal agency, and its financial mismanagement. The language used to describe the agency’s struggles with audits, financial troubles, and alleged incompetence reflects a critical perspective typically associated with conservative viewpoints, especially through the quote from Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx. Additionally, the inclusion of comments from North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson and other Democratic officials highlights a contrast in political positions. However, the article itself primarily reports on legal actions and the consequences of funding cuts without pushing a clear partisan agenda, thus maintaining a degree of neutrality in reporting factual details of the case.
