Cork man identified as one of more than 120 victims of Hurricane Helene in US

Irish man Aidan Bowles, 71, has been identified as one of the many victims of the devastating Hurricane Helene, which struck the southern part of the US last week.

The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office in Florida listed Aidan as one of nine local victims in an update posted on Saturday, September 28.

Detectives said Aidan was located in his residence in Indian Rocks Beach.

"Bowles appeared to have drowned from the rising water that entered the residence," the Sheriff's Office said.

Aidan's residence was in Zone A, which came under a mandatory evacuation order on Wednesday morning, September 25 before Hurricane Helene made landfall on Thursday night.

John Comer, a neighbor who also didn't evacuate, told the New York Times he discovered Aidan's body on Friday trapped under a dresser and covered in mud.

“It’s not something you can get out of your mind easily,” he said.

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Aidan was a native of Glanmire in Co Cork and a graduate of University College Cork. After working as a lawyer for a period in New York, he and Jack Wells co-founded the coal trading business Emerald International, from which Aidan retired in 2009. The duo also dipped into the bar and restaurant business in the US.

Aidan vacationed in Indian Rocks Beach since the 1980s and, after living in Kentucky for a while, he and his wife Sabrina permanently moved to the Florida city about 15 years ago, the New York Times reported.

In 2018, Aidan, Sabrina, and their son Sam opened Salt Public House in Indian Rocks Beach. The restaurant said in a social media post in December 2022 that Sabrina died following a "tragic accident." Less than a year later, in July 2023, the restaurant announced it was closing.

In a heartbreaking post on social media on Friday, Aidan's son Sam wrote: "I don’t even know what to say, today I not only lost my dad I lost my superman.

"This guy was the strongest and smartest person I’ve ever met in my life he truly made an impact in his life on not just me but everyone he came into contact with.

"I’m truly lost without him we were not only father and son but best friends, business partners, and my hero.

"Unfortunately my father didn’t make it through Hurricane Helene last night and passed away in his home early this morning."

Sam added that he would be arranging a "celebration of life" for his dad.

Speaking with RTÉ News on Monday, Sam said his father was 20 years old when he emigrated from Ireland to the US and that he was planning to visit Ireland in the coming weeks.

Sam said he spoke with his father the night before he died: "I called him around 10 pm last Thursday night and he told me there was nothing to worry about, that everything was fine and the storm had already passed him.

"But the storm surge is what caused the issue.

"The next morning, around 9:30 am, I got a call from the police to say my father was deceased in his home and there was about eight to ten feet of water surrounding it."

Sam went on to describe his father as "a smart and very intelligent person who could light up a room."

He told RTÉ News: "He was a man of many hats. He was a New York attorney when he first emigrated. Then he got into the coal business and became one of the largest exporters and importers of coal out of the Gulf of Mexico."

Sam continued: "He was a superhero. He adopted me when I was a one-year-old. He has done so much for me and for everyone he has come into contact with."

At the time of publication on Monday afternoon, the Associated Press reported that at least 121 deaths in six states have been attributed to Hurricane Helene.