UNICOI COUNTY, Tenn. ( WJHL ) — More than 50 people were sent to the roof of a Tennessee hospital on Friday, waiting for hours to be rescued as flooding cut the hospital off from land.
Ballad Health, a hospital chain headquartered in Tennessee, said at 10:45 a.m. that the Unicoi County Hospital had closed and suspended operations due to the threat of flooding.
Unicoi County Emergency Management Agency told hospital leadership that the hospital needed to be evacuated due to the “unusually high and rising water from the Nolichucky River.”
There were 11 patients at the hospital that Ballad planned to transfer, but ambulances sent to evacuate them could not safely get there due to the rising water.
“The hospital has been engulfed by extremely dangerous and rapidly moving water,” Ballad said in a news release. The water started coming into the building and was moving so quickly, rescue boats weren’t able to safely navigate the area.
By around 12:30 p.m., 54 people had been relocated to the hospital’s roof, Ballad said.