14-05-2025
On the road and in crisis: highway patrol troopers answer the call of duty
May 14—When Helene struck Haywood County, North Carolina State Highway Patrol troopers found themselves taking on duties and responsibilities they could not have expected, from turning traffic on a collapsing interstate to guarding gas stations and coordinating relief convoys.
They found themselves stretched both physically and mentally to accomplish the near impossible — and they did it.
Here are a few of their stories.
I-40 goes into the river
Sgt. Joey Henderson has now worked through three different floods in his 25 years in law enforcement. This time around, he was one of the first people to arrive on the scene as Interstate 40 washed away.
"I was on Jonathan Creek when the interstate started washing out. We had a call to check the interstate," Henderson said. "We got down to right around the 3-mile marker where the interstate had washed out on the eastbound side. There was a pretty significant amount of traffic, particularly tractor-trailers, that were stuck between two washouts."
Two Incident Management Assistance Patrol (IMAP) drivers arrived on the scene just before Henderson. By the time the trooper had arrived, the two drivers had already begun to remove the zipper wall — a piece of median that can be taken out if access is needed from one side of the interstate to the other.
"We were lucky enough that towards the front area of that traffic was one of those zippers that they had pulled out," Henderson said.
After removing the zipper wall, the focus turned towards getting the cars at the front out before any more of the interstate slipped into the Pigeon River. The rain was still coming down and there was no way to gauge whether the rest of the roadway would hold steady.
"Those in the front were definitely in a much riskier spot on the interstate," Henderson said. "We were definitely trying to stay ahead of Mother Nature." The river had not yet crested, he added, and the trooper keenly felt the need to stay calm as some of the truck drivers' nervousness increased.
Back and turn
The vehicles in front of the zipper wall had to be backed up to the opening so they could be turned around and sent back toward Tennessee. Some drivers were so flustered that Henderson hopped in their vehicles and backed them up himself.
In other cases, he provided support as the drivers backed up.
"I can remember one specifically where every time there was a pop or a crack or a sound, he would jump on the brakes," the trooper recalled. "I kept encouraging him to focus on me."
Eventually, they were able to get all of the drivers turned around and the interstate closed off.
No communications
Elsewhere, in Bethel, another trooper was facing his own challenges.
Trooper Trevor Sawyer lives in the Bethel community and spent much of the immediate response time there, as well.
"I woke up that Friday morning. Everything was kind of normal. We were getting a lot of rain and a lot of flooding," Sawyer said. "All of a sudden, it went from a little bit of rain and wind to the river rising and roads flooding."
At that time, Sawyer was stuck in Bethel for four or five hours, unable to leave until flood waters receded, so he served as best he could where he was stranded. The trooper went to houses in lower-lying areas and started telling the folks inside to find higher ground or get to neighbors' houses.
While his first day of flood response was hectic, the major challenges hit on day two.
"Friday was a bad day. There was a lot of flooding. But Saturday was probably the worst day for us in law enforcement," Sawyer said. "That's the day that all the communications stopped. That was definitely a first-time experience, not being able to communicate over cell phone or radio. Nobody knew you were checked on. Nobody knew where you were. Nobody knew anything."
Sawyer explained just how crucial being able to communicate is in law enforcement.
"Your radio is just as important as your gun. You've gotta have a car, a gun and a radio. If one of those goes down, you're kind of helpless," the trooper said.
He eventually tried to head toward I-40 to make sure things were going well there, unaware of the washout.
"A lot of my responsibility is taking care of the interstate," he said. "I had zero clue that I-40 had washed away. I didn't know until Sunday the extent of I-40 (damage). It was stressful and confusing. I couldn't tell anybody what I was seeing or experiencing and no one could tell me what was causing the traffic backup in the gorge."
Local guides
Eventually, Sawyer's role shifted to helping troopers from other parts of the state find their way around Haywood County.
The trooper grew up in Enka, lives in Bethel and worked in Jackson County for two years, giving him plenty of expertise on the area.
"When we're getting all of this help, my role changes. I'm helping out my other troopers to know the area to direct traffic. We spent a lot of time in Canton because they had gas stations that were getting gas," Sawyer said.
Those gas stations in Canton were a central post for many troopers in the days following the storm.
"We stationed them at every gas station we could find in Canton that had gas," Sawyer said. "All the altercations that we were having, fights, guns being pulled, wrecks, that all kind of ended when we got that help from the outside."
Coordinating routes
As for Henderson, he stepped into the role of command post liaison for the highway patrol.
He was stationed at Lake Junaluska, helping coordinate everything from rolling traffic patrol for the NCDOT to coordinating housing for those coming in from out of town. He also helped coordinate the path the trucks took from the rock quarry to various sites around the county.
"It was a very frustrating position," Henderson said. "I spent long hours there. I was usually there by 6:30, 7 o'clock in the morning. I usually didn't leave until 8, 9 o'clock at night. It was 16, 17, 18-hour days for about five weeks."
He also helped coordinate deliveries in through the gorge. Those deliveries brought in everything from heavy equipment to dynamite for the rock quarry.
"I guess the thing that was most hectic is that we were setting up escorts through the gorge to get food and water in on I-40 without having to make a three-hour detour to get there," Henderson said. "My phone would ring in the four to six hours I had off with companies trying to set up those deliveries. I was dealing with phone calls all night long, setting those things up."
These two troopers made it clear their accomplishments and those of their team would not have happened had everyone not worked together.
"It's tough to take credit for stuff during the flood when there were so many people helping," Henderson said. "I'm just one of many, many folks that made things happen."
