How do we respond to flooding in Northeast Tennessee?

Unprecedented, massive and unreal.Those are a few ways Hurricane Helene's flooding is described by local officials. When that water began to flood, first responders' muscle memories had to activate."The magnitude of that was much larger than any of us here have experienced before," said Evan Clyburn, director of Washington County's Emergency Management Agency. "The training that we were doing previously for our rescue guys did pay off."In Unicoi County, the all-volunteer search and rescue team takes on swift water rescue as part of their duties. Bart Ray leads that team as the director."We were definitely prepared. We knew that was coming, but we had no idea what it was really going to look like until it got here," said Ray."We do the best we can with what we have at the time, and that's a good thing about our people. We can adapt to the situations and still make good things happen."The Tri-Cities area was reminded this week of how the weather can turn on a dime. Two to four inches of rain came down in Kingsport on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service radar estimates. That rain flooded the streets.Sullivan County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Andy Seabolt said six trees were reported down, 12 flooding calls were received and two water rescue calls came in between 6 to 10 p.m. Wednesday. No one was trapped or injured due to the flooding.2025 has been a record year for flooding across the U.S. The National Weather Service issued more than 3,000 flash flood warnings from January through mid-July this year. That's the highest number for that time period since tracking began in 1986.When waters start to rise, one saying sounds throughout emergency departments: "Turn around, don't drown.""If you have running water in front of you, you do not know how strong that current is," said Carter County EMA director Catherin Umrichin. "Don't say 'Oh, I can drive through this.'""I've watched numerous social media posts of people driving through flooded areas. You don't know what is in that water to begin with. Once you start you may get stuck in there," said Umrichin.Her colleague Lucas Gragg, Carter County EMA deputy director, shared the same sentiment."Six inches of water will float a vehicle. If you don't know how deep that water is, then you're just taking a gamble. So always turn around. Don't drown."Pre-planning is important when your community is at risk of flooding, said Ray. He said people should be mindful of what could flood and have a plan to get to higher ground or stay off the roads."Everyone, whether they live in a certain place, or they drive a certain route every day, you should know some of these flood prone areas if they exist. Be very aware of them," Ray said.Kingsport Fire Department shift commander Jessie Bishop said flash flooding typically happens quickly in Kingsport, especially in the downtown area."It hits, it happens for about two or three hours, and then the water's gone," said Bishop. "But people will think they can drive through it, and we end up having to go get people out of cars that are stranded in these areas."Factors like location, population, how dense the population is and the time of day can all affect what a response looks like, said Clyburn.Clyburn said people should always keep a copy of all of their personal data and a week's worth of medications into a bag that you can grab and go with in case you need to evacuate.Emergency management directors emphasized another point: Don't let sunny weather fool you, especially where rivers flow for miles and across state lines."It may be sunny and beautiful right here, but in Roan Mountain or North Carolina, if it's pouring down rain there, that water all comes here," said Gragg. "People think, 'Well, it's pretty here. We don't have nothing to worry about.'""People need to be mindful of the weather around us."The NWS issues a flash flood warning when dangerous flooding is imminent or active. They use their own data and what they hear from river forecast centers to try and paint a picture of what could happen.NWS weighs all kinds of data when issuing a flash flood warning, said Anthony Cavallucci, warning coordination meteorologist for the field office in Morristown. Time of day and giving people several hours to prepare for what's to come are also factors their team considers."Life safety is priority number one," he said.Heather Sipe, Greene County EMA director, said the NWS is a crucial resource for emergency planning. But there are times when disaster strikes worse than what was predicted."We've got to realize, just like we've seen in certain events, we were as prepared as we could have been for what was forecasted," said Sipe. "But, the weather service, they're not God; we're not God. Ultimately, nature does what nature wants to do, and we have to adapt."Jamie Miller, Hawkins County EMA director, said last-minute changes in weather can be the most challenging to respond to. He recommends the public have more than one way to access weather information, through a weather radio or weather apps."Some storm warnings can be as the [storm] cell develops over the county," said Miller. "These are the most complex to respond to due to the event happening when the warning activates."Search and rescue teams prepare for aggressive flooding that could threaten their communities by training throughout the year, including on local waterways."Part of that [training] is a swim test, part of it is boat operations to be able to handle the boats in the swift water. There's different components of that," said Bishop."We can actually go get somebody, if we have to, whether we're swimming out to get them, or having to set up rope systems and lower it to them or take the boats out and go get them," he said of their rescue procedures.The Unicoi County Search and Rescue Team meets monthly for training, usually on a Sunday. Those training sessions are at least six hours, but sometimes go from sunrise to sunset.Ray said being on the team costs a little bit of their own money. They buy their own gear and take time off of their paid work to volunteer and train."The group I work with right now, they're a fine, dedicated bunch of people," said Ray. "They do this because of the people that live here. They want to help people.""People talk about the water quality, they talk about the hazards in the water," said Ray. "But in the reality of all this, we have to go back in and train for this. So regardless of what it looks like, that's what we've been doing."The damage Helene brought was unprecedented, and officials said they had takeaways from the storm, like every disaster they respond to."After every major event, there's always things that you can do better, that you can improve on," said Gragg.Teams in Northeast Tennessee are either diversifying their training regimen or adding more equipment to their supply."Some of the things that we realized for the situations were we didn't have all the equipment that we felt like we needed. That's prioritized some of our focus areas," said Bishop.The Kingsport Fire Department is working on getting more dry suits. Those suits keep responders warm, dry and protected from any hazardous chemicals and debris that might be in flood waters.Clyburn shared that Washington County is working on updating disaster response in other ways aside from rescue procedures, working with other organizations to figure out what public buildings can be used as shelters or where generator systems can be added."A lot of groups came out of Helene and some of the groups that we worked with, their capabilities are really good," said Clyburn. "We partnered with them to help multiply our capability and help enhance response to different disasters. Not only weather, but anything else that comes along."Sipe, who has worked in emergency management for more than 20 years, said the weather events of the last few years seem more severe."It just seems like in the last five to eight years, the weather has really changed as far as severity… especially with storms and flooding."She stressed that people should have a plan not only for the moment disaster strikes, but for the days that follow, too."People need to be able to take care of themselves or their families, and help neighbors for three to five days at the least, because just like with Helene, with these weather events, it's not just about the flooding."Rebekah McNerney and Allison Winters contributed reporting.More CoverageYou can find more reporting on the flooding in Sullivan County on July 30 here.More CoverageThis is part two of a two-day series on flash flooding. To read part one, pick up a copy of Thursday's Times News, or visit timesnews.net.