Communications remain an issue as East TN continues search for missing

The 2,000 residents of Hampton, Tennessee live along the shallow Doe River. Their lives were turned upside down over the weekend when Tropical Storm Helene brought more than 10 feet of violent flood waters which spilled over the banks and washed entire homes off their foundations.

Nelson Parmer, pastor of the Hampton Church of God, said that days later, he still has no idea if many of his congregation are safe.

“I’ve only been able to get in touch with three of my church people,” Parmer said. “I can’t get on the roads, and that’s frustrating because a lot of them are elderly.”

Parmer’s church has a congregation of about 50 people. He said, due to knocked out roads, utilities and cell service across Carter County, he hasn’t been able to reach the majority of them.

“Where we’re at we still don’t have power or internet or anything,” Parmer said. “We still don’t have phone service, we can’t get on the streets, so I don’t know.”

According to the Federal Communications Commission, a third of all cell sites in Carter County where Parmer lives still aren’t working. In nearby Unicoi County, it’s even worse: nearly half of the towers are down. The FCC attributes most of it to power outages and downed communication cables.

That along with bridge and road closures means making sure people are alive and well is still difficult.

“You don’t understand how important it is to have that technology until you don’t have it,” Ivan Sanders, spokesperson for the City of Elizabethton said. “Being able to pick up a phone and just call your family member that lives a mile away. You know, instead of going over, you call them.”

The lack of cell service contributed to high numbers of people who were considered missing immediately after the flooding. On Monday, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency reported that 60 people were missing in Carter County. That number was quickly reduced to three on Tuesday as cell service began to be restored.

Meanwhile rescue crews in the county were still struggling to reach areas of Elk Mills and Roan Mountain on Tuesday. Certain areas were completely cut off by mudslides and downed trees, making it nearly impossible for residents to get supplies or send word to loved ones.

“They’re kind of on an island,” Sanders said. “There were about 25 stranded [in Elk Mills] on Saturday that we got out via helicopter.”

Justin Hicks Louisville Public Media

Emergency response teams use fluorescent paint to mark homes that have been searched for survivors of the floods. On Sunday, 60 people were considered missing in the aftermath of flooding wrought by Tropical Storm Helene, however that number has since dwindled to three after cell service in the area began to be restored.

Just a few miles south of Hampton, Tiger Valley resident Laurie Upchurch was one of those cut off for most of the weekend. She said it felt incredibly isolating.

“We didn’t hear any emergency vehicles, we didn’t see anybody in the dark,” Upchurch said. “And so we’re just like, ‘Where is everybody?’ It’s been kind of eerie.”

Upchurch was without cell service between Friday and Tuesday morning. During that time, she was unable to reach anyone to let them know that she was okay.

“The service was spotty,” Upchurch said. “Today, all of a sudden, the service came on and all these messages came in. So I was able to communicate, but we were definitely in the dark.”

Cell providers have varied timelines for when they expect to get things back online. On Tuesday, T-Mobile wrote it repaired a damaged fiber cable in Johnson City which should restore service to the “vast majority” of sites. Verizon, another carrier with issues in the area, said on Tuesday that it expected to have service restored by the evening. Other service providers have been more vague, but promise to fix service disruptions as quickly as possible.

Emergency response crews in Carter County have been using Starlink satellite internet hookups to communicate in areas with no signal. Governor Bill Lee did not mention efforts to restore cellular service to impacted counties at his press conference this afternoon in Unicoi County.

The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency says it does not yet have a definitive timeline for when cellular service will be fully restored in Carter County and northeast Tennessee.

“TEMA has been working closely with our telecommunication providers as they begin to restore service to the impacted areas,” Kristin Coulter, communications director for TEMA, said. “At this time, a restoration time has not been relayed to us by providers.”