Pilot rescuing stranded Hurricane Helene victims ordered to stop or face arrest
A South Carolina pilot who flew to a flood-ravaged region of North Carolina to help stranded Hurricane Helene victims said he was threatened with arrest if he didn't stop performing rescue missions.
Jordan Seidhom decided to use his helicopter and piloting skills after the storm wreaked havoc in the region, flooding roadways and rendering escape nearly impossible for numerous residents. Through a Facebook post, Seidhom read about a family trapped on a mountain without water in Banner Elk and decided to take action.
“I thought, I have a helicopter, maybe I can help,” Seidhom told Queen City News.
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As the former head of the Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Office narcotics unit, Seidhom used the skills he learned from his previous training to locate the family.
After receiving clearance to fly from the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, Seidhom and his son, Landon, a high school junior, loaded up the helicopter with food and water and set off for Banner Elk.
On Saturday, after the father-and-son duo, who are also members of the Sandhills Volunteer Fire Department in Pageland, succeeded in delivering supplies to the family in need, they decided to fly to Black Mountain in search of others in need of help. Soon after, they found two women stranded on a mountain without food or water. Seidhom was able to transport the women to a community center that had generator power and other resources.
After that, they found two other women who were out of supplies and needed to be rescued off the mountain.
“They (the women) were staying at an Airbnb,” Seidhom told Queen City News. “They only had one day of supplies, which was gone by Saturday. They didn’t have any food, water, no running water, no power. And we were coming back this direction anyway, so we actually took them to Charlotte-Douglas Airport and they were able to fly home from there.”
In response to Hurricane Helene, which made landfall last week in Florida's Big Bend region, volunteers serving with multiple relief organizations have stepped up to provide disaster relief to those in the southeastern United States. The hurricane initially made landfall as a Category 4 storm, and then it swept through Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia and Tennessee, killing hundreds and leaving millions without power.
After resting in a pilot lounge at a nearby airport, Seidhom and his son ventured out again on Sunday to rescue more people. The pilot’s son spotted an older couple waving for help, and Seidhom landed the helicopter on the couple’s washed-out driveway after ensuring there were no trees or power lines in the way.
In a video Seidhom shared on Facebook, he can be seen speaking with the couple before coming back to the helicopter and instructing his son to make room for the elderly woman. The pilot was worried about having too much weight in the helicopter, so he told his son to stay with the husband while he flew the wife to a group of first responders about three minutes away.
After he landed, a fire chief from out of town approached Seidhom and inquired about his credentials. The pilot explained that he was a volunteer, and the fire chief initially provided Seidhom with radio frequencies to coordinate with emergency personnel and set up a landing area to recover the other victim.
“And in the middle of the whole conversation and them blocking the road off, I was greeted by the — at that time, I didn’t know — but the Lake Lure fire chief, or assistant chief, maybe. And he shut down the whole operation,” Seidhom said.
The Lake Lure fire official threatened to have Seidhom arrested if he continued conducting rescue operations. Seidhom told Queen City News that he tried to de-escalate the situation by asking the official how he could communicate with the Lake Lure Fire Department to help people, but the fire official ordered him to leave.
The father said he also tried to explain that he needed to fly back up to the mountain to retrieve his son and the elderly man, but the fire official reportedly told him to leave both men there. Seidhom asked why he was being ordered to cease rescue efforts and said the official replied, “You’re interfering with my operation.”
Lake Lure officials and the Lake Lure fire chief did not immediately respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment.
Following a separate conversation with the out-of-state fire chief and an officer, Seidhom flew back up to the mountain to retrieve his son. The pilot felt he had no choice but to leave the elderly man there, as it seemed the fire official would have him arrested if he rescued the man.
Shortly after the confrontation with the fire official, a temporary flight restriction was enacted over Lake Lure, the place where Seidhom had attempted to rescue the elderly man. After the restriction was lifted on Monday, the pilot returned to Lake Lure with supplies through the Carolina Emergency Response Team volunteer group.
The Town of Lake Lure appeared to address this and similar incidents in a press release on Wednesday, stating that air and vehicle traffic must remain limited to national, state and local agencies working to provide disaster relief.
“The Town of Lake Lure greatly appreciates the additional offers of assistance from private organizations; however, at the present time, National, State, and Local authorities are managing the situation effectively,” officials claimed in the press release.
Seidhom believes that the fire official’s actions over the weekend endangered lives. The father also remarked that if he could do it over again, he would have rescued as many people as possible until he was arrested.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
