More than 50 individuals were rescued after being stranded on the roof of a hospital in Tennessee on Friday due to the rising floodwaters from Hurricane Helene. According to local officials, all those trapped on top of Unicoi County Hospital in Erwin were safely evacuated by Friday evening.
Erwin Alderman Michael Baker reported that helicopters were continuously retrieving stranded individuals and transporting them to safe locations in the city. “There’s a helicopter on top of the hospital, and we have another hovering nearby to start to carousel getting everybody off, but this is a team effort,” Baker stated.
Ballad Health, the organization that manages Unicoi County Hospital, was informed of the need for an evacuation around 9:30 a.m. local time. However, due to the severe flooding and high winds associated with the storm, ambulances and other rescue vehicles could not reach the hospital safely.
The hospital, located about 100 miles east of Knoxville, had a total of 54 people on the roof, including 11 patients. Some others were placed in rescue boats as floodwaters surged around and inside the facility, making safe evacuation increasingly difficult.
Ballad Health characterized the rescue operation, assisted by the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency and the National Guard, as extremely hazardous. Baker described the rapid rise of the water, saying, “The water came up so fast, I literally looked at the owner and said, ‘We’ve got to get out of here.’”
Unicoi County Hospital is a nonprofit facility with 10 beds. The storm, now downgraded to a tropical depression, has caused at least 45 fatalities across five states, leading to flash floods in the Southeast after it made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane. Millions have lost power, and damage to homes has prompted numerous road closures.
Angel Mitchell, one of the individuals rescued, described her terrifying experience of being trapped on the roof for four hours while her 83-year-old mother, visiting her in the hospital, was placed in a nearby rescue boat. As floodwaters began infiltrating the building, Mitchell recounted the chaos as hospital staff directed everyone to the roof to escape rising waters.
Mitchell described wading through chest-deep water and climbing up a ladder to reach safety, while her mother was in a rescue boat below. “It was the scariest thing I’ve ever been through,” she shared tearfully, noting the distress of seeing her mother separated from her.
While waiting for their rescue, many patients, nurses, and doctors gathered to pray as floodwaters rapidly surged. By the time rescue teams arrived, the water level was around 10 feet below the roof.
The helicopters transported those rescued to another hospital located 20 miles north of Unicoi County Hospital.
As of Friday afternoon, approximately 1.1 million people remained under various flash flood emergencies, the most severe level issued by the National Weather Service, signaling a significant threat to human life.