Rescue operation under way at Unicoi hospital in Erwin after flash flooding from deadly hurricane overwhelms area
More than 50 hospital patients and staff were in the process of being airlifted from the roof of the building in Tennessee on Friday afternoon in a dramatic rescue operation after flash flooding overwhelmed the area.
An urgent evacuation was launched as the storm effects of Hurricane Helene were felt far and wide, with the state emergency agency and the national guard responding to the situation that quickly unfolded at Unicoi hospital in Erwin, Tennessee, about 100 miles outside Knoxville.
The hospital chain Ballad Health, which oversees Unicoi hospital, said afternoon they received notice of a need to evacuate the hospital just after 9.30am on Friday, due to “unusually high and rising water from the Nolichucky River”.
Eleven patients were at the hospital when the evacuation efforts started, but while the hospital deployed ambulances, “the flooding of the property happened so quickly the ambulances could not safely approach the hospital”, the company said.
