The Truckload Carriers Association named a Texas truck driver a Highway Angel after he used his trailer to keep people alive during the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
Michael Dorsey, 56, of Kingwood, had just finished loading his truck in Erwin, Tennessee, when the town was ravaged by catastrophic and deadly flooding from the Nolichucky River. Dorsey used his trailer to help 11 people seeking refuge from flooding caused by the Category 4 storm that wreaked havoc across the Southeast, notably in western North Carolina.
The TCA has honored drivers who show exemplary courage since the program’s inception in 1997.
Dorsey was in an industrial park just a few hundred feet from the river near the North Carolina border when floodwaters swept through the area around 10 a.m. on Sept. 26. He told FreightWaves that 10 people climbed onto his trailer to escape the floodwaters, which the trucker estimated was moving at 55 to 60 mph. Another person seeking refuge, a woman named Bertha, got into his truck with him, Dorsey said.
The water spilled into the truck, so he and Bertha, whose last name he didn’t know, joined the others on the trailer. Chaos and tragedy – and survival – followed.
“The water was just rushing,” Dorsey said. “I was telling Miss Bertha because she was so panicky, ‘Don’t worry, I’ve got you.’”
He said the water flipped the truck and detached it from the trailer. The rushing waters carried away the trailer and the dozen people on it. He said Bertha was frightened, and he comforted her until something hit his head, knocking him unconscious and sending him into the raging water.
He said the water was so cold it shocked him awake. He was caught in the current until he grabbed on to debris and was later rescued by emergency personnel.
Of the dozen people on the trailer, six died, including Bertha, Dorsey said.
He has struggled with insomnia and guilt since the tragedy, he said.
“I told her I had her, and I kind of feel guilty that I couldn’t hold on to her,” he said. “I know it wasn’t my fault, but I still feel responsible.”
Dorsey said he had connected with one of Bertha’s relatives and a survivor named Jacob.
A Marine veteran, Dorsey drives for Kentucky-based Mercer Transportation and said he borrowed a colleague’s truck to use until he receives money from his insurance company. As the sole provider for his family, he returned to work about a month after the tragedy.
“I don’t want nobody to look at me like I’m a hero,” he said. “I’m not a hero. I was in the right place at the right time. God puts you in certain situations. … I would want somebody to do the same for my family if the opportunity presented itself.”