Emergency directors recount Helenes intense impact [Video]

They made some life-saving judgment calls, preemptively closing bridges and prepping communities for evacuation, but area emergency management (EMA) directors say even they gained lessons from Helene, whose impacts one search and recovery team likened to a tsunami’s.

Hurricane Helene’s impact on our region will forever be remembered, but two EMA chiefs who spoke to News Channel 11 say the area turned out to be about as prepared as possible when Mother Nature dropped an unforgettable calling card.

“We did evacuations two miles on each side of the (Nolichucky) River, we’ve got 32 miles in Greene County, and I think that helped save lives,” Greene County EMA Director Heather Sipe said. “People listened to us.”

Miles away in Carter County, emergency sirens were deployed to good effect.

“I was at the Roan Mountain Fire Department when they did sound the sirens to wake everybody up that morning at 6 in …