As Hurricane Helene bore down on Florida Thursday morning, in the North Carolina mountains, swift water rescue crews were already busy.
Channel 9’s Dave Faherty was along the Linville River, where crews rescued five people.
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The river level had already risen after heavy rain overnight in the mountains. Just to the west, McDowell County is reporting 6 to 10 inches of rain has already fallen there.
The Burke County rescue squad, along with Lake James Fire, responded Thursday morning to an area north of Lake James along the Linville River. Swift water rescue teams got five people to safety after the water came up 5 to 6 feet over their driveway.
Faherty spoke with someone on the swift water rescue team in Burke County about what’s to come.
“Fast-moving water. It doesn’t take a whole lot of water to sweep you off of your feet,” Wes Taylor with the Burke County Rescue Squad said. “As little as 2 feet of water can sweep you off of your feet, so when you’ve got water that’s 6 feet deep, and you’ve got trees flowing down and all sorts of other debris, it can be extremely dangerous.”