On Thursday, September 26, 2024, Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 storm. It was the first storm of such magnitude to strike the region since recordkeeping began in 1851.
But the storm went on to make even bigger history as it cut a swath of destruction from the Gulf Coast up through Atlanta and into the Western Carolinas, Eastern Tennessee and even further.
The devastation was horrifying, and hundreds of people lost their lives across six states.
Through it all, the nation’s truck drivers “kept on truckin’,” working to protect themselves and their families and to provide life-saving supplies. Countless drivers stepped up to provide food and shelter for others caught in the storm. Some of those drivers have already been honored as TCA Highway Angels, including Andrew Inlow, George Maxwell and Michael Dorsey. Here are their stories.
ANDREW INLOW
Maverick Transportation, North Little Rock, Arkansas
On September 27, Andrew Inlow was one of several truckers parked at the TA travel center in Chandler, North Carolina, just outside Asheville. Inlow lives in Booneville, Mississippi, and drives for Maverick Transportation.
The entire region had been severely impacted by Hurricane Helene. Roads were shut down because of flooding and damage, and residents and travelers alike were stranded with no cell service or electricity. Stores were shut down, and food was scarce.
The drivers went into action.
“We had a driver who was delivering hamburgers to restaurants in the area, so he actually opened up his unit and pulled out a box of hamburgers and started cooking for all the truck drivers,” Inlow said.
The next day, Inlow drove a group of truckers into Asheville in search of food. When they arrived, they decided to buy another grill and start handing out food to members of the community.
“The food’s gonna go bad anyway, so that kind of kicked everything into motion,” Inlow said.
Drivers went to a nearby motel and went door to door, knocking and asking guests if they needed food.
One of the guests, Dianna Sains, was helping her son, daughter-in-law and young grandchildren move across the country. The entire group was stranded at the motel with no electricity.
“They had no food and no real water for almost three days,” Inman said.
After hearing about the drivers’ kindness, Sains traveled to the Chandler TA and connected with Inlow, who made sure her family was taken care of.
“She got all excited because these big scary truck drivers were trying to give away food,” he said.
Inlow also bought chips, snacks and drinks from the TA for the others, spending about $1,000 of his own money. In all, he thinks he and the other truckers fed about 150 stranded people over the four and a half days they were in the Asheville area.
“I hardly ate,” Inlow said. “I actually had drivers that I had become friends with who forced me to eat because my mind was on everybody else.”
Without the help of Inlow and the truck drivers that also volunteered time and resources, this small community would have felt the impact more significantly in those initial hours and days.
“I always tried to stay on the positive side, because there’s no reason to be negative and cause anybody to be negative,” Inlow said. “I just did what anybody else should do.”
GEORGE MAXWELL
TransAm Trucking Inc., Olathe, Kansas
George Maxwell of Tampa, Florida, earned TCA Highway Angel wings after rescuing a couple in the midst of Hurricane Helene. Maxwell drives for TransAm Trucking Inc.
At about 3 a.m. on October 10, as Hurricane Helene approached, Maxwell decided to drive his pickup truck to the lot in Plant City, Florida, where his tractor was parked. He planned to move his rig to higher ground before the floodwaters hit.
His journey soon took an unexpected turn. Conditions were worsening as he arrived at the lot and headed toward his semi.
“I’m in the (pickup) truck,” Maxwell said. “I’m watching the water come up higher, and it’s getting bad.”
As the water levels began to surge, Maxwell quickly realized he had no time to save his personal vehicle. Without hesitation, he abandoned the vehicle and focused on getting his tractor to safety.
As he was preparing to leave the lot, Maxwell noticed something alarming. The owners of the truck parking lot were trapped in their nearby home, surrounded by rapidly rising floodwater.
“They said they thought they were safe there — but it’s not safe,” he said, noting that at this point, the water was chest-deep. “The rain was pouring nonstop, and the wind was blowing like 100 mph.”
Wading through the dangerous waters, Maxwell made his way to the house, where the couple were fighting to stay safe. He led them back to his semi, providing shelter and transportation, and then drove them to higher ground, ensuring their safety.
Thanks to Maxwell’s quick thinking and fearless actions, the couple was saved from what could have been a catastrophic situation.
Maxwell’s personal vehicle was not so lucky.
“It’s totally gone,” he said regarding his pickup, which was ruined in the flood. Looking back, he says he knows he did the right thing by moving the couple, the semi and himself away from the flood waters.
“I would do it again,” he said. “I just did what I’d hope anyone would do for me.”
MICHAEL DORSEY
Mercer Transportation, Louisville, Kentucky
At about 10 a.m. on September 26, Michael Dorsey was at an industrial park in Erwin, Tennessee, loading his flatbed trailer with piping, when he was told that floodwaters were rapidly approaching. Dorsey, a resident of Porter, Texas, drives for Mercer Transportation.
The town of Erwin was hit by flooding that devastated the region after Hurricane Helene made landfall, unleashing historic levels of rain.
The industrial park is just a few hundred feet from the Nolichucky River, which swelled with a rush of water comparable to nearly twice what cascades over Niagara Falls, according to USA Today.
As Dorsey finished loading up his flatbed, water was rising. A group of 10 people from a neighboring business approached Dorsey and asked if they could climb atop his truck to find refuge from the flood.
“I said, ‘Sure!’ So, I let everybody get on my trailer,” Dorsey said, adding that he also offered shelter to a frightened woman he calls “Miss Bertha,” allowing her to sit in his truck.
“She sat in the cab with me, and like 15 or 20 minutes later, we were overrun by water,” Dorsey said. “It flipped my truck. I ended up having to lift her out of my truck.”
As the water rose quickly, Dorsey and another man helped get Miss Bertha onto the flatbed trailer with the others.
The floodwaters were so strong that they separated the trailer from the truck and carried the 12 terrified hangers-on downstream. At one point, the trailer capsized, and Dorsey and the others floated in the water hanging onto the materials that had previously been strapped to the flatbed.
Just before the trailer capsized, Dorsey says, he was struck in the head by debris and lost consciousness.
“When I fell in the water, I guess it was so cold that it brought me back,” he said.
Dorsey and others rode the current until they were able to grab a bush in the flood and hang on. Eventually, a few members of the group were rescued by emergency personnel. Of the dozen people attempting to ride out the flood on his trailer, Dorsey, only six survived. Miss Bertha’s body has not been found, he noted sadly.
“The most terrifying part was just watching the water come, rise as we were just sitting, not knowing what to expect,” he said.
Dorsey, a former Marine, says he lost everything in the flood. In addition, he struggles with pain in his head, neck and numbness in his legs and feet.
“I can hardly sleep because I keep thinking about Miss Bertha and all of the people that died,” Dorsey said. “If I wouldn’t have been there, those people that survived wouldn’t have made it — it would have been impossible. God had me there for a reason.”
Linda Garner-Bunch has been in publishing for more than 30 years. You name it, Linda has written about it. She has served as an editor for a group of national do-it-yourself publications and has coordinated the real estate section of Arkansas’ only statewide newspaper, in addition to working on a variety of niche publications ranging from bridal magazines to high-school sports previews and everything in between. She is also an experienced photographer and copy editor who enjoys telling the stories of the “Knights of the Highway,” as she calls our nation’s truck drivers.
