From Katrina to Columbia, TWRA Wildlife Officers Answer the Call

TWRA Sgt. Roy Smith gazes at turbulent water washing through the streets of Colombia.

A decade after TWRA sent Wildlife Officers to New Orleans, La. for search and rescue missions following Hurricane Katrina, officers once again answered the call to help those devastated by flooding in Colombia, S.C.

On Oct. 3, eight TWRA Wildlife Officers from east Tenn. were activated by TEMA to assist with expected flooding issues associated with an impending weather event in S.C.  The following morning, Lt. Jeff Prater led a team including Sgt. Joe Durnin, Sgt. Roy Smith, WO Clint Smith, WO Anthony Chitwood, WO Curt Henderson, WO John Ripley and WO Ryan Rosier who arrived in Columbia and immediately went to work responding to calls for assistance and performing search and rescue missions.  While in the affected areas, the teams worked with local EMS performing swift water rescues, grid searches of flooded neighborhoods, welfare checks on elderly and infirm individuals, and delivering bottled water to those in need.  Many of the individuals who found themselves trapped or in need of rescue were in vehicles, which either stalled out or were swept away by swift water.  The TWRA boat teams cleared many of these stranded or swept away vehicles.

While working with Columbia-Richland Fire Department and a National Guard unit stationed in Ft. Jackson, S.C., the rescue team consisting of Sgt. Smith, Sgt. Durnin, Off. Chitwood, and WO Smith received a call for help from three individuals who had been swept off of a roadway and into the adjacent wood line by swift moving water flowing over the road.  The team was transported as close to the stranded vehicle as possible using 2 1/2 ton military personnel carriers, and rope and pulley systems were used to retrieve each victim from the fast moving water.  One of the individuals rescued was a 2-year-old child.  Sgt. Smith said, “I told the medical crews to check that child for broken ribs.  I squeezed the child so hard and there was no way I was letting go.”

Another TWRA boat team was called upon to make an important delivery to a medical center that was unreachable due to the rising floodwaters.  During performance of their duties with Ashland City Fire Dept., the team made up of Lt. Jeff Prater, WO Curt Henderson, WO John Ripley, and WO Ryan Rosier delivered medical supplies to a treatment center that specializes in treating childhood cancers.

The initial teams were demobilized on Oct. 9 and were relieved by eight more officers from TWRA.  The new crews consist of Sgt. Ben Davis, WO Marty Griffith, WO Joe McSpadden, WO Jarod Coxey, WO Tony Cross, WO Pete Geesling, WO Jason Ramsey, and WO Johnny Poston. These teams will continue to search affected areas and assist in evacuating areas east of Columbia as the floodwaters flow east toward other towns nearer the coast.