Whitewater rafters in Western North Carolina raced against time to save people from Helene's floods

The North Carolina rafting company partners with the fire department for water rescues

As water rushed through the remote mountain communities of Western North Carolina, locals raced against time to save each other. Jim Hampton was among the rafters at French Broad Adventures who worked with the Walnut Volunteer Fire Department on rapid water rescues following the Helene flood.

MADISON COUNTY, NC – Experienced whitewater rafting in North Carolina spent more than two weeks on the French Broad River after the hurricane Helene‘S floodswho save their neighbors in extreme circumstances.

Brothers Jim, Mike and Mitch Hampton, along with Mitch’s wife Korey, are part of the Walnut Volunteer Fire Department’s rapid water rescue team in western North Carolina. The Hamptons own it French wide adventures whitewater rafting tour company in Madison County, and the entire family has over 145 years of combined experience in whitewater rafting. That experience was crucial when the river where they normally took groups for a good time became angry overnight.

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Jim Hampton told FOX Weather the calls for water rescues began the morning of September 27 after Helene’s landfall in Floridaand just kept coming.

A flood rescue in Helene by the Walnut Fire Department volunteer water rescue team and French Broad Adventures. (Mitch & Korey Hampton)

Hampton said the hardest part was finding time to rest herself between rescues.

“Adrenaline is this wild thing and cortisol and, you know, you’re just excited and you can’t sleep,” he said. “You almost have to pass out from exhaustion, and then you do it again the next day.”

A 7 meter ladder and a successful water rescue

After the Helene flood, the team spent 15 days on the French Broad River with dogs and military partners scouring the banks for survivors. One of those calls involved a harrowing rescue operation at the Iron Horse Station, a monumental inn Hot springs.

“There were five people on the top floor. The water was rising and there was concern that the hotel would be affected by flooding,” Hampton said. “There was a lot of debris coming down, you know, coming from that river into that area.”

Hampton said the rescue team was able to gain access to the building and get everyone out using a 24-foot ladder anchored to a pipe.

“It actually went pretty smoothly, considering once we stuck to our plan,” Hampton said. “Then we were on the phone again.”

However, there are moments on French Broad River that Hampton says will haunt him.

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The swiftwater rescue team tried to reach a man clinging to a tree on the river. Ultimately, the rescue was too risky and the man was dragged away.

Jim Hampton, member of the Walnut Fire Department’s volunteer water rescue team along the French Broad River. (Mitch & Korey Hampton)

“There was debris everywhere, and if our 15-foot boat hit the log we would have capsized and been done for,” Hampton said.

More than a month after Helene, the Walnut Fire Department is still getting calls for quick water supplies, but that’s only for when a body is recovered. The death toll in North Carolina reached more than 100 people this week as recovery efforts continue across the area with an estimated $53 billion in damages from Helene.

Hampton said the community in western North Carolina made the massive rescue effort possible.

“If it wasn’t for the community rallying around us and everyone in the community with food and support, who knows if we would have even been able to keep going,” he said. “This whole thing has really created a sense of community and pride.”

Read more of this story from FOX Weather.