Hurricane Helene has wreaked havoc up and down the eastern seaboard and even east as far as Kentucky. North Carolina has been battered with high winds and up to 30-inches of rain, washing out roads, bridges and clearing homes off the sides of hills. Towns are without power and there have been reports of nearly 200 casualties and hundreds more missing.

Travel in and out of the region is nearly impossible so the area is being patrolled by Black Hawk helicopters, boats, excavators and UTVs trying to reach people in need of medical supplies, emergency medical needs or supplies. The other major issue is cellphone usage is nearly non-existent due to the towers being destroyed.

Great Bend native Sam Thier, a 2006 GBHS graduate and the oldest son of Greg and Jane Thier, has made his way to the ravaged area to help as well. Thier, a representative for Bestway Ag, is a drone specialist and he will be directing missions of search and rescue as well as air deliveries to areas that can’t be driven into. 

Thier left his home in Mukwonago, Wisconsin, Monday morning and arrived in North Carolina Monday night, via West Virginia due to washed out highways and interstate highways on the western side of North Carolina. The search and rescue mission is being operated under the direction of Samaritan’s Purse, a “nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world.”

Thier pulled a specialized drone trailer equipped with lighting and electricity and a drone with a 12-foot blade span capable of carrying up to 120 pounds of cargo. He also has a thermal capable drone used to locate people by heat signatures and then coordinate with law enforcement. He has a waiver from the FAA to fly his drones for emergency aid.

“These are actually delivery drones,” Thier said. “We’ll be able to deliver food, water, medical supplies, medicine, you name it. We are linked up with Samaritan’s Purse and they will be directing us. They will take us where we need to be so we can start flying supplies in and out.

“One of the big things with search and rescue is taking these thermal drones that we have and trying to locate people that are stranded or missing.”

The trailer plays a big role as well, more than just transporting the drones.

“The drone trailer is a very important piece to this,” he said. “It’s not just an enclosed trailer. It’s functional for drones. It has a lighting system on it. It’s plumbed with electricity. We can plug our generator right into it and it will light up the night for us so we can see the drone coming in, giving us a clear-line view of landing and take off. Plus we can run our monitors in there.”

Infatuated with airplanes and remote control vehicles, Thier bought his first drone in 2012 and developed his interest and skills to where it has now become a career. 

“I’m a drone specialist in the agricultural spraying field,” he said. “So instead of running a ground route on a field, I can fertilize, spray, or spread seed for cover crops from the air. There’s a lot of different things you can do with them.”

Thier has had drones for play and drones for work but this is an opportunity he has yet to experience.

“This is easily the most important work I’ve done with drones,” he said. “No doubt about it. I don’t think there is anything more important, or a better use for a drone, than helping save lives. We’ll be coordinating with the local law enforcement communities there. And if we find someone, or find a whatever, we can mark the spot directly to law enforcement and they can deploy whatever resources needed to find that person.”

Update

As of Tuesday afternoon, Thier and his group of drone pilots had located several people needing help and delivered several bags of medical supplies across a downed bridge to an assisted living facility in Marion, NC. He estimated he alone had been able to visualize 20 square miles from high above the mountainous terrain.

”We got a lot of stuff done today,” he said. “We located a lot of people needing help and we are getting supplies put into places where UTVs can deliver them where they need to go. The effort here is astonishing - but we could use 20 more drone groups to help out.”

While working in the Marion area, the group received a phone call from the governor of North Carolina asking them to move from Marion to Asheville, NC, to an area he was calling “Ground Zero.”

Upon his arrival back home, Thier will stay busy with Bestway Ag and with Wiscconsin Flight Sports, where he is owner and lead instructor.