Stranded in NC Mountains, Colerain Township, OH, Firefighter Rescued Residents

A weekend hiking trip quickly took a turn for a Colerain Township firefighter and his friends.

When Firefighter James Riley woke up Friday morning to find the small mountain town of Swannnanoa partially destroyed by a raging flood.

"We were literally in the epicenter of it," Riley told WLWT, adding that the town is about 15 minutes from Asheville. 

"There were people on a roof of a trailer that had, literally, a semi running through the water down at the house and colliding with the house. We start hearing people yelling for help and everybody that was just down below us was just stuck in the water. Half the town completely washed away."

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There was no way out. The roads were shut down or blocked by debris. Cell service was mostly down.

"We were literally landlocked and trapped. There was 36 hours where we couldn't go anywhere. which was which was really scary."

As a firefighter and a former member of Ohio Task Force One, Riley was trained for moments like this one and knew exactly what to do.

"Not only did we have the speed of the water with how it was moving, you had so much debris above and below the water that you had to worry about."

He and his group helped get people out of the flood water and to safety while they waited for local emergency responders.

"The first responders that were in the area basically had abandoned the firehouse that was in the community initially due to floodwater. So they weren't even there, so there was no public safety presence immediately at all."

It was a team effort. Everyone pitched in to help.

"A couple community members had kayaks and different things. So, areas where the water was not, rapidly moving or rushing, we were able to at least get some people from, from houses and the higher ground."

Finally, one of his friends was able to get a signal. He shared his phone with residents to help them reconnect with family members.