Tennessee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) described the scene in areas impacted by flash flooding from Hurricane Helene in East Tennessee as “truly catastrophic” after two days of traveling to the area to meet with residents and survey the storm damage.
One week ago, flash flooding from Hurricane Helene devastated areas of East Tennessee, which has since left 11 dead, according to the Tennessee Department of Health.
Blackburn first visited the areas impacted by the hurricane on Saturday, along with Governor Bill Lee and other elected officials, and for a second time on Tuesday.
Upon visiting communities decimated by flood waters, Blackburn said she was “heartbroken” to see such devastation but was hopeful upon witnessing the response from volunteers and local leaders amid the damage “rallying together” to help those in need.
Blackburn surveyed the damage from the flood waters via helicopter on Saturday with the Tennessee National Guard and met on the ground with residents and local officials on Tuesday.
“I’ve never seen devastation like this. It is truly catastrophic…The stories you’re hearing are devastating. The loss of life just breaks your heart in two. The jobs, the homes. It is heartbreaking,” Blackburn said on Wednesday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
“People are showing up from all over the state to help. People from all over the country are sending in supplies, but seeing the exhaustion and the stress of this, you just want to wrap your arms around these mayors and these emergency personnel and these citizens who are out working to help people non stop, trying to help their fellow citizens and to get through this,” Blackburn added.
During her visit to the impacted areas on Tuesday, Blackburn said meeting with residents on the ground was also “heartbreaking.”
“Meeting with some of those property owners and homeowners, it’s heartbreaking to see the amount of stress and fatigue and the despair. They’ve lost everything,” Blackburn said.
“The way people worked together to save lives and to serve their neighbors, it really is quite a story. This is going to be a chapter in our state’s history,” Blackburn added.
Blackburn has since launched a new webpage (https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/helene) on her official website dedicated to providing resource information for Tennesseans impacted by Hurricane Helene.
In addition, Blackburn led the entire Tennessee congressional delegation in sending a letter to President Joe Biden requesting the “swift approval” of Governor Lee’s request for an updated major disaster declaration in the wake of flash flooding caused by the remnants of Hurricane Helene.
Watch the full interview:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Sen. Marsha Blackburn and Hurricane Helene Damage” by Sen. Marsha Blackburn.
