Western North Carolina whitewater rafters raced against time to save people from Helen’s floods

A North Carolina rafting company teams up with a fire department for a water rescue

As the flood swept through the remote mountain communities of Western North Carolina, local residents raced against time to save each other. Jim Hampton was one of the rafters with French Broad Adventures who worked with the Walnut Volunteer Fire Department on rapid water rescues after Helen’s floods.

MADISON COUNTY, North Carolina – Experienced welders in North Carolina spent more than two weeks on the French Broad River after the hurricane Helen‘s floodingsaving their neighbors in extreme conditions.

Brothers Jim, Mike and Mitch Hampton, along with Mitch’s wife Corey, are part of the swift water rescue team for the Walnut Volunteer Fire Department in western North Carolina. Our own Hamptons French wide adventures rafting tour company in Madison County, and the entire family has over 145 years of whitewater rafting experience. This experience was decisive when the river, which they usually took with the group to have fun, immediately became angry.

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Jim Hampton told FOX Weather that calls for water rescue began coming in the morning of September 27. after Helen left for Floridaand just kept coming.

Helen’s flood rescue by the Walnut Fire Department’s volunteer rapid water rescue team and French Broad Adventures. (Mitch and Corey Hampton)

Hampton said the hardest part was finding the time to allow himself to rest between rescues.

“Adrenaline is a wild thing and cortisol and, you know, you’re just pumped up and you can’t sleep,” he said. “You almost have to snap yourself out of exhaustion and then you do it again the next day.”

24-foot ladder and successful water rescue

For 15 days after Helen’s flooding, the team was on the French Broad River with dogs and military partners scouring the banks for survivors. One of those calls was about dire help at the Iron Horse Station, a prominent hotel in the city. Hot springs.

“There were five people on the upper floor. The water level was rising and there was concern that the hotel could be compromised by floodwaters,” Hampton said. “You know, a lot of debris was falling from this river into that area.”

Hampton said emergency crews were able to gain access to the building and pull everyone out using a 24-foot ladder attached to a water pipe.

“It’s actually been pretty smooth given that we’ve adopted our plan,” Hampton said. “Then we were on another call.”

Still, there are moments on the French Broad River that Hampton says will continue to haunt him.

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The rescue team was trying to reach the man who was clinging to a tree on the river. In the end, the rescue was too risky, and the man was swept away.

Jim Hampton, a member of the Walnut Fire Department’s volunteer rapid response team along the French Broad River. (Mitch and Corey Hampton)

“There was debris everywhere and if our 13-foot boat had hit a tree trunk, we would have flipped over and that would have been it,” Hampton said.

More than a month after Helen, the Walnut Fire Department continues to receive calls for rushing water, but only to find a body. Death toll in North Carolina exceeded 100 people this week as recovery efforts continue across the region, damage from Helene is estimated at $53 billion.

Hampton said the community of western North Carolina made the Herculean rescue effort possible.

“If it wasn’t for the community that rallied around us and everyone in the community with food, support, who knows if we would have even made it,” he said. “The whole thing really created a sense of community and pride.”

Read more of this story from Weather in LYSYTSIA.