State Rep. Todd helps initial cleanup efforts in East Tennessee

Chris Todd was in school when his family’s home was hit by a tornado, and he can still remember how others showed up at his parents’ house to help clean limbs and other debris from the yard in the wake of the storm.

Todd said that memory helped shape his attitude toward helping others after times of natural disaster, which is why he loaded up his truck and trailer and headed east Sunday afternoon after East Tennessee and western North Carolina were severely damaged by flash flooding from Hurricane Helene in the days prior.

“I called Jeremy Faison, one of the state representatives from the affected area and asked what was needed, and I told him about what time I’d be there,” Todd said. “And he got me connected with highway department people, first responders and others who might point me in a direction of work that needed to be done.”

Todd said the damage is so overwhelming in the area that it’s hard to develop an overall plan of how to tackle everything.

“When I talked to Jeremy, he said my excavator is probably the tool that I had that was needed the most,” Todd said. “When I got here, I was pointed in a direction and told to ask where I was needed and went in that direction.”

He spent all day Monday in Harstville, a town in Cocke County, which is on the North Carolina border just east of Sevier County. He said stories he heard from the weekend included one fire department whose firefighters tried to get their trucks to higher ground to keep them from suffering flood damage.

“They’d get one truck to a higher area, and then by the time the next truck got to that higher area, the water had already risen a foot or two,” Todd said. “That’s how fast the water was rising here, and it’s unbelievable to see the damage and just how much natural debris – limbs and small trees – are piled up in some areas.

“I’m wondering how many of them came from a river or creek bank or if they were in the way of the water. But there’s a lot of it piled up that needs cleaning.”

Todd said he spent nine hours in Hartford on Monday with his excavator getting large pieces of debris out of the way in neighborhoods and clearing the way for more precise clean-up jobs in yards and around homes.

On Tuesday morning during a phone interview, he’d been asked to take his excavator to Mountain City to do similar work there. He was driving through Elizabethton on his way while talking on a hands-free device.

“Here in Elizabethton, you can see the water line where it stopped before it began receding,” Todd said. “There aren’t as many buildings here it looks like – at least downtown – that got as much water in them, but ball fields at the city parks are all twisted and have mud and debris on them, so that suggests to me that the water came through pretty fast.

“Going by a bank, one of the columns on the front porch is leaning over, and I assume that’s because of the flooding as well.”

Todd said he’s not sure how to advise anyone from West Tennessee who wants to do like him and simply offer themselves and their property to help.

“I can tell you that a lot of work will need to be done, and they’re still trying to assess what needs to be done,” Todd said. “After I posted on Facebook [Monday] that I was here, two friends reached out wanting to come over, and I actually linked them together to see if they wanted to ride together and put their resources together to help.

“I know people are putting together loads of water and other essentials that people need, and I can tell you that is needed urgently here. But calling TEMA is probably your best bet in trying to find a place to jump in and help out. If they don’t know where to send you yet, they’re the ones figuring it out on the broader scale for the most part.”

Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news