NORTHEAST TENNESSEE (WJHL) — Mark Nagi has seen a great deal of storm damage to roads and bridges in 13 years with the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), but nothing could have prepared him or the department for the Hurricane Helene’s havoc. “I’ve been saying for the past few days that this is a generational […]
NORTHEAST TENNESSEE (WJHL) — Mark Nagi has seen a great deal of storm damage to roads and bridges in 13 years with the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), but nothing could have prepared him or the department for the Hurricane Helene’s havoc.
“I’ve been saying for the past few days that this is a generational storm, something that people have not ever seen in this area,” Nagi told News Channel 11 Tuesday. “But I don’t think that terminology even really does this justice, and honestly, I don’t think that pictures and video do it justice.”
That’s evident throughout the region, including along the Nolichucky River from the point it blasted out of the gorge upstream of Erwin to southwest Greene County, many miles downstream. The river became an irresistible force, with a number of bridges proving to be less-than-immovable objects.
“We had five bridges that were destroyed,” Nagi said of the TDOT-owned toll regionwide. “We have 14 more that were damaged across the region. That’s not even counting what any local, county or city-owned bridges could end up being.”
Friday morning, a total of 17 bridges spanned the Nolichucky over that stretch from just south of Erwin to southwest of Greeneville. Less than 24 hours later, six of them were completely destroyed and only a handful were passable.
“When we’re designing and building bridges, we’re thinking about 100 years from when that bridge is constructed,” Nagi said. “For this storm, we’re talking about something that would have been a 500-year (storm).”
Nagi’s worked at TDOT for 13 years and said others with even longer tenure told him the state hadn’t endured anything comparable as far as road and bridge damage. He said the Gatlinburg wildfires in 2016 came the closest, and at the time, “I couldn’t imagine anything going beyond that kind of devastation.”
“(This) is so widespread, and that’s the difference,” Nagi said. “Helene brought forth something that wasn’t just in Johnson County, it wasn’t just in Greene County, Unicoi, Washington, Carter.”
Extra crews are in, and 310 bridges already had been inspected by Tuesday morning, but Nagi urged patience.
“This is going to be an extremely long process before we can get back to some sort of normalcy, at least months depending on the area, and we’re talking about estimated hundreds of millions of dollars of damages,” he said.
Local citizens and county crews worked from opposite sides of the Nolichucky River Sept. 28 to reopen Jackson Bridge, a county-owned span in Washington County, Tenn. (Photo: WJHL)
“We want these roads to be open and bridges to be open as quickly as everyone does, and we’ll work tirelessly to make that happen.”
Where are we now and what comes next?
Four days after monsoon-like mountain rains from Helene’s remnants created catastrophic flooding, TDOT had deployed more than 400 staff from throughout the state. In addition to the 310 bridge inspections, they had assessed 47 routes, repaired and reopened 25, and reopened seven out of 13 state bridges that had closed after the storm.
Nagi said the agency still had “hundreds more” bridges to inspect. Crews will prioritize locally-owned bridges Thursday, with plans to inspect 102 of them, including 12 that are washed out or are currently closed.
The agency is prioritizing repairs and connectivity that links people to high-priority needs like hospitals, food, shelter and water.
One hard-hit area lay south of the Nolichucky, stretching from Embreeville upriver to south Greene County downriver. On Saturday, a miles-long stretch of Northeast Tennessee faced no ability to cross after having 11 options 24 hours earlier:
The Embreeville bridge over Tennessee Highway 81 was inaccessible;
the Taylor Bridge was destroyed;
the Jackson Bridge was inaccessible and debris-covered;
Bailey Bridge (State Route 353) was destroyed;
Snapp Bridge was inaccessible and debris-covered;
Corby Bridge was destroyed;
Chuckey Pike (SR 351) was damaged and closed;
Jones Bridge (SR 350) was damaged and closed;
Kinser Bridge (Tennessee Highway 107) was destroyed;
Bird’s bridge was damaged;
The U.S. Highway 70 bridge was closed out of fear the Nolichucky Dam could collapse.
Two groups of citizens helped clear roadways from the south to Jackson and Snapp bridges, with Jackson opening late Saturday and Snapp Sunday. The risk of a dam breach faded and U.S. 70 opened Sunday. Crews cleared access to the Embreeville bridge furthest upriver.
By Tuesday, TDOT had executed four construction contracts, and another four debris removal contracts. Just one spot in Unicoi County had 58 loads of debris hauled away from it on Monday alone.
Nagi urged patience as the process continues on a path toward letting contracts and commencing work on major repairs or replacements.
“For a lot of these areas, we’re talking months to being back to normalcy,” he said. “We’re going to work on it as quickly as humanly possible.”
Nagi said at this point, he’s not sure how money might flow to counties and cities that aren’t prepared financially to sink tens of millions into work they weren’t expecting. TDOT has specific bridge funding programs that go out to local governments, and he expects some additional federal money will head the region’s way at some point.
“I’ve been here 13 years, never seen anything like this, so I don’t know exactly how that works when you have a natural disaster.”
When can I get to Asheville?
When the Nolichucky emerged from the tight confines of the gorge, it slammed the Interstate 26 bridge with enough force and duration to break both sections at the north end. That bridge has been deemed destroyed, and much of the interstate from there south to Asheville, N.C. is damaged, especially south of the state line.
Looking south in Erwin at the remains of the Interstate 26 bridge Sept. 30, 2024. (Photo: WJHL)
“We’re working very closely with the North Carolina Department of Transportation on finding ways to get these roadways back open,” Nagi said of the critical personal and commercial route between Northeast Tennessee and Western North Carolina.
Similar issues are present on Interstate 40 between Newport and Asheville.
“Right now, it’s it’s extremely hazardous in terms of travel between Tennessee and North Carolina. There are just so many roads on our side and especially on the North Carolina side that are just unsafe for travel.”
Nagi stressed that the areas where TDOT crews are working remain dangerous and urged people to avoid the areas if possible and give crews extra room if they do have to travel through.
“We have heavy machinery in these areas and we have unstable ground in a lot of these places,” he said. “You still have areas where you’re waiting for all the water to fully recede and our crews are out there doing extremely dangerous work every day.”