NEWLAND — As the winds and heavy rain associated with Hurricane Helene battered the mountains of Western North Carolina, many residents were faced with issues of flooding, damage to property, or even unfortunate loss of life.
Avery County Sheriff’s Office was not immune to the detrimental effect of Helene on its facility and operations, as the rising waters crippled infrastructure in Newland, including the disruption of water services, forcing the jail to row in the same proverbial boat as the rest of the town’s members who rely on the town water system.
As the storm system approached the immediate area, Avery County Sheriff Mike Henley was reaching out to law enforcement officials and sheriffs from other counties for a contingency plan of providing proper shelter for inmates should water and sewer services be unavailable locally. As a result, Rowan County Sheriff’s Office offered to accept responsibility of housing Avery County’s inmates as the county continues to work through the current aftermath of recovery and response.
“We had a little bit of water in the building, but nothing significant,” Sheriff Henley said. “The main concern was that the water went out in Newland, and that’s where the water for the facility comes from. We were getting bottled water and those kind of things early on in hopes that the water would be cut back on soon and we would have our sewer system up, because we couldn’t even flush toilets. As we started getting more and more information and how it was going to be a long-term thing there for a bit, the sheriff from Rowan County and I were in consultation early on about sending some folks up here. I told him the situation of the jail and that we may have to look to send inmates somewhere, and he said, ‘Well, we’ve got an open cell block and we can take all your inmates.’ He provided transportation and said he would bring three transport vans and get them all. That took a lot off of our plate there with all the other things we were having to deal with in the way of resources. That was a godsend to have, that we were able to get them down there, and they’re still there, and will be there until we get back up to an operational level that we think we can manage.”
According to Henley, he hopes that the inmates will be able to return to the Avery County Jail within the next couple of weeks, though the process is still fluid.
“We’ll see about two weeks. We’re making progress and it could be sooner, or it could be longer,” Henley explained.
Henley shared that the working relationships between sheriffs and through the state sheriff’s association are strong, making it easier to navigate situations when counties have needs where others can lend aid.
“It’s great, the sheriffs helping sheriffs. That is a normal thing for any time there’s any kind of event or anything like that. There are sheriffs immediately reaching out to the sheriffs, and I had phone calls from all over the state saying, ‘Hey, we’ll be ready to go. If you need some help, we can provide this,’ telling me what resources they can provide, and the Sheriff’s Association facilitates a lot of that and they do a really good job of managing that stuff,” Henley added. “The other law enforcement agencies throughout the state, some of the local police departments, we’ve had some of those folks up here. It’s just a testament to the law enforcement community’s character. They’re truly people who have signed up for service, It’s not easy being away from your family, operating in these kinds of conditions, with some of them sleeping on cots and all that kind of stuff. They’re truly public servants, and they’ve proven it. They prove it time and time again, and certainly with this situation it’s no different.”
Henley encourages the community to continue exhibiting patience and faith as progress is slowly moving forward in terms of recovery.
“We are making progress every day, and we’ll continue to do that. As I’ve said before, I think this community and Avery County is going to be a stronger community for having experienced such a devastating event,” Henley said. “But there’s a lot of lessons learned with any of these events. None of these situations are a perfect scenario. There are mistakes made. No matter how well prepared or that you are, or what plans you have in place, you’re still going to find things that work better. So we have learned some lessons, but I think all in all we’ve been successful in our mission, at least from a law enforcement standpoint, so far. We’re always looking how we can do things better. This is a life-changing event for a lot of folks, and certainly for those who lost loved ones. We need to keep those folks in our prayers, continue to keep this community in our prayers, and we will make it through this.”
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