TWRA bodycam footage shows officers saving people from Hurricane Helen's floodwaters
By: -----
As rivers rose in East Tennessee, putting entire communities underwater, officers across the region worked to save people from becoming victims of Hurricane Helene.
Four Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency officers wore body cameras during their rescue response. Video footage was presented during a Dec. 6 TWRA meeting at the Ducks Unlimited National Headquarters.
Leaders shared a documentary which featured officers discussing how they responded to the storm. At the meeting, the four East Tennessee TWRA officers at the center of the documentary were presented with Law Enforcement Valor Awards.
Those officers are listed below.
* Maj. Shelley Hammonds
* Lt. Jeff Prater
* Communications Coordinator Matt Cameron
* District 42 Officer Justin Pinkston
In the documentary, Prater said the Federal Emergency Management Agency called for officers to help respond to the storm. He said he was heading to Cocke County when he heard Hammonds ask for officers to respond to Unicoi County Hospital, where floodwaters had almost entirely submerged the building and trapped several people.
"While en route, I was coming down Highway 107 when I was flagged down by a car that asked me for assistance on Dave Fender Road," said Prater. "He advised that there were three people trapped who needed rescuing, along with pets."
Hammonds said in the documentary, Pinkston grabbed a boat and Cameron joined to help respond to the call for help. Footage showed them using the boat to navigate a flooded neighborhood and approach a house, where two people were trapped on top of a shed.
"The water was just coming up too fast," said Hammonds.
Footage showed the four officers maneuvering the boat to save the two people, helping them put on life jackets after they boarded the boat. The officers bring them back to dry land before returning to the flooded road to save more people and pets. As part of the rescue, they had to effectively punch out a window and let water rush outside from inside a home.
The video shows officers bringing out two dogs from inside the home. Then, a person calls out from inside, saying they've been pinned. Officers jump into the water and fight the rushing water to pull the person out.
"You've still got your life. That's what's most important," Pinkston tells the person in the footage.
Cameron was later seen rescuing workers from a tree, helping them onto the boat and bringing them to dry land. After venturing out into the neighborhood again, a group of people were rescued from the roof of a barn.
After bringing those people to dry land, the group of TWRA officers were met with cheers. At the Dec. 6 meeting, Jimmy Granbery, the chairman of the Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission, commended the officers.