Flooding at Unicoi County Hospital: More than 50 people stranded on the roof of the Tennessee hospital

CNN
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A “dangerous rescue operation” is underway after rising flooding from Hurricane Helene left more than 50 people stranded on the roof of a Tennessee hospital on Friday.

According to Erwin City Councilman Michael Baker, most of the people trapped on the roof of Unicoi County Hospital in Erwin, Tennessee, were rescued by helicopter. But a handful of people are still on the roof waiting to be rescued, Baker told CNN Friday afternoon.

“We had a constant stream of helicopters picking them up and dropping them off at safe locations around the city,” Baker said.

Ballad Health, which manages Unicoi, was informed around 9:30 a.m. local time on Friday that the hospital needed to be evacuated, the health organization said in a post.

Erwin is located about 100 miles east of Knoxville in the southern Appalachians, near Tennessee's border with North Carolina.

A total of 54 people were taken to the roof and seven others were placed in lifeboats, Ballad Health said in a statement. The hospital system said the number includes 11 patients.

Unicoi County Hospital has since been “inundated by extremely dangerous and fast-moving water,” the statement on Evacuate people safely.

Ballad Health said the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency and the National Guard were working on “a dangerous rescue operation.”

Baker previously said multiple helicopters were being used to get hospital patients and staff off the roof.

“There's a helicopter on the roof of the hospital and we have another one hovering nearby to start the carousel to get everyone out, but it's a team effort,” Baker told CNN.

“The water was rising so fast that I literally looked at the owner and said, 'We have to get out of here,'” Baker said. “This is a serious situation… I haven't heard any reports of casualties, but I would say it's a matter of life and death.”

According to its website, Unicoi County Hospital is a 10-bed nonprofit hospital.

At least 25 people died in the storm, which caused flash flooding across the Southeast after hitting Florida as a Category 4 hurricane. The storm, which has now become a tropical depression, has left millions of customers without power, destroyed homes and caused road closures.

As of Friday afternoon, about 1.1 million people were affected by at least 14 different flash flood emergencies. This is the highest flash flood warning issued by the National Weather Service and is reserved for catastrophic flooding that poses a serious threat to human life.