Staff photo by Fritz Busch Paul Kloeckl of New Ulm holds a cell phone photo of his niece, the late Julie Ann le Roux, 33, of Marion, N.C. who died in Hurricane Helene. LeRoux’s mother is Jeanne Kloeckl, a 1975 Gaylord High School graduate. LeRoux’s grandmother is Mary Kloeckl of Bayside Manor, Gaylord.

NEW ULM — A retired New Ulm truck driver is the uncle of a North Carolina woman who was swept away by Hurricane Helene floodwaters before her body was found days later.

The story of Paul Kloeckl’s niece, Julie le Roux, and her fiancee John Norwood III has reached a number of media outlets including ABC News, People magazine and others.

Le Roux’s mother is Jeanne Kloeckl, a 1975 Gaylord High School graduate now living in southeastern Georgia. Le Roux’s grandmother is Mary Kloeckl of Bayside Manor, Gaylord.

Paul Kloeckl fondly recalled his niece’s art.

“She loved painting dogs, cats and outdoor scenes. Every time I see a beautiful sunset, I think of her,” said Kloeckl.

He described a memory of her when she was a small girl.

“I drove a truck to Florida years ago and stopped to see her. As I drove away, she told me to blow the horn. I told her to come and blow it, which she and several other children did,” he said.

Hurricane Helene was a large, deadly, catastrophic, and fast-moving tropical cyclone. It was the strongest on record to strike the Big Bend region of Florida. It devastated parts of the Southeastern United States. It was the eighth named storm, fifth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season.

As the hurricane blew through North Carolina the last week of September, sending what was described as a 30-foot-tall wall of water, rocks and tree debris toward Le Roux and Norwood, they tried to find shelter at a neighbor’s house after their home was destroyed by floodwater.

Norwood told ABC News water and debris created a mudslide that demolished the house and washed everything downriver.

Rescue teams used a pulley system to bring Norwood to safety against the current of violent floodwaters.

“It happened so fast. All I remember is a bunch of crashing noises, then I was underwater,” Norwood was quoted in the ABC News report.

He said he stepped to one side of the house and his fiance stopped to another and they became separated when debris hit the home. He said a ceiling rafter crushed his legs, but he kept trying to get to Le Roux but was unsuccessful.

After days of searching in and around Marion, N.C., le Roux’s body was recovered.

Kloeckl said a rescue team found le Roux several days after she was swept away by floodwater.

“Rescuers that included her two sisters and brother said she was under 20 to 30 feet of rubble. She was identified by an arm tattoo,” said Kloeckl.

An artist, le Roux was described as able to see beauty and light in everything around her, channeling her vision into her art, that was a testament to her free spirit and ability to find joy and wonder in the simplest of things.

A GoFundMe page was created to help Norwood, a blacksmith, pay for hospital expenses and temporary housing, among other costs.