Hurricane Helene floods washed away a 75-year-old North Carolina man after he clung to a tree for hours, with neighbors and relatives hearing him beg for aid but unable to reach him.

According to The New York Times, Bruce Tipton was at home in Marshall on Friday, September 27, when water from the French Broad River rushed beneath him.

“One minute he’s standing in the front door, and the next minute, the trailer’s gone,” niece Annie Meadows told the newspaper.

Family, friends, and neighbors watched from a distance while Tipton grabbed a nearby tree for approximately seven hours. Many people couldn’t see him, but they could hear his screams for aid.

The Times reported that Tipton, a Navy veteran, grew up in the small village of about 800 people and was familiar with the local weather. Although firemen had advised people to leave, Tipton refused, according to neighbor Jason Blankenship.

But, according to Walnut Volunteer Fire Department Assistant Chief Mitch Hampton, Helene was “nothing that any of us have ever seen before.”

AccorThe Times reported that Meadows’ fiancé tried to reach Tipton, but the cable he had wrapped around his waist to help him cross the waters was too short to reach the tree. rescuers came, they stated that the water was hazardous to enter and that they would return at sunrise, according to the newspaper.

But, just before 11 p.m. local time, Tipton slipped into the ocean and swept away.

Though attempting to save Tipton would have jeopardized the team, Hampton described the inability to assist as tragic. “That was the worst one,” he told the publication. “We couldn’t get to him.”

According to the Associated Press, the hurricane has killed at least 152 people in six states as of Tuesday, Oct. 1. Nearly half of the deaths happened in North Carolina.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told PEOPLE on Tuesday, Oct. 1, that an “active rescue mission” is still underway in the state, with some villages being “isolated due to road damage.”

Criswell warned that, despite the passage of time, “there are still a lot of risks out there” in the Helene-affected regions, such as felled trees and electrical lines, hazardous debris, and high river levels.

“People just need to be aware,” the official explained. “They should be conscious of their surroundings. They should be cautious and watch out for each other because storm aftermath hazards can be as deadly as storm hazards.”