Gov. Bill Lee and other state and federal officials traveled to northeast Tennessee on Saturday to survey catastrophic flood damage in several counties in the wake of Tropical Storm Helene.
Lee was accompanied by First Lady Maria Lee, Deputy Gov. Butch Eley, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, U.S. Rep. Diana Harshbarger, R-Kingsport, Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton and State Rep. Rebecca Alexander, R-Jonesborough. Tennessee Emergency Management Agency Director Patrick Sheehan was also present.
“It’s shocking. It’s heartbreaking. You see homes washed away. You see businesses washed away. You see bridges washed out, and you know what that means: people are cut off and isolated,” Lee told reporters in Blountville, Tennessee on Saturday afternoon, according to audio provided to The Tennessean by the governor’s office.
“You see areas where there’s no power and you know that there’s no water, and it’s heartbreaking.
“It’s heartbreaking to see people lose everything that they have worked for.”