RICHMOND, Va. — Gov. Glenn Youngkin used part of his State of the Commonwealth address Monday morning to honor the rescuers who plucked survivors of Hurricane Helene's floodwaters in southwest Virginia from harm's way in late September.
"Let's thank National Guard Chief Charles Jackson and Chesterfield firefighter James Bourdon," Youngkin said during his address.
Carl and Linda McMurray, who have been married for 57 years, got to meet the team who saved their lives on Monday.
Flooding from Helene had split their Washington County home in two. Carl was swept away but somehow used his belt to tie himself to a bush. Linda was trapped in an upstairs bedroom for 16 hours before she was rescued.
Carl and Linda had no idea whether or not the other had survived.
Carl was spotted by the Virginia Helicopter Aquatic Rescue Team aboard a black hawk chopper. That crew is a partnership between the Army National Guard and Chesterfield Fire and EMS.
When those rescuers learned the couple who had been married 57 years was finally reunited, it made their mission and role a little different.
"It was pretty dire. Where he was at in the river, he was probably not going to survive if he had gone any farther," Bourdon said. "So that was just miraculous in itself. That rescue felt smooth and it felt efficient on our side because of our training, but hearing Carl's story that his wife was missing, we also looked for her. And there was a little bit of a sense of loss, for Carl, in the moment, and then to find out ultimately that she had survived, and was still in part of the building and she was rescued the next day, that, it made the whole story complete for us."
After telling the McMurrays' story, Youngkin reminded lawmakers he has proposed creating a disaster assistance fund that would provide rebuilding costs not covered by insurance or federal assistance.
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