5 rescued from rising Linville River as heavy rain moves in

BURKE COUNTY, N.C. — As Hurricane Helene bore down on Florida Thursday, in the North Carolina mountains, swift water rescue crews were already busy.

Channel 9’s Dave Faherty was along the Linville River where crews rescued five people. The family is now safe after rain trapped them at their home.

TRACKING: Flooding risk ramps up with steady rain ahead of Helene

Every river in Burke County had risen after heavy rain overnight in the mountains. Just to the west, McDowell County is reporting 6 to 10 inches of rain had already fallen there by Thursday morning.

The rain has forced people to scramble to higher ground. The Burke County rescue squad, along with Lake James Fire, responded Thursday morning to an area north of Lake James along the Linville River. Swift water rescue teams got five people to safety after the water came up 5 to 7 feet over their driveway.

Donald Peach is one of the five family members and friends who had to be rescued. He told Faherty he’s keeping a close eye on the Linville River.

“My mother was there, and I’m taking care of her, and I needed to get her out knowing what else was coming,” Peach said.

“It was a little bit scary,” said his girlfriend, Kari Taylor. “We’ve never had to do that before.”

Just down the road, Michael Vance woke to the water rushing past his home. He’ll be watching the levels over the next 24 hours and is prepared to leave.

“Not something to mess with. There’s a lot of water coming,” Vance said. “I would not have expected it to be this high this soon.”

Wes Taylor is part of the swift water rescue team in Burke County. He expects to be busy Thursday night.

“Fast-moving water. It doesn’t take a whole lot of water to sweep you off of your feet,” Taylor said. “As little as 2 feet of water can sweep you off of your feet, so when you’ve got water that’s 6 feet deep, and you’ve got trees flowing down and all sorts of other debris, it can be extremely dangerous.”

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Along Interstate 40, Faherty could see tropical storm warnings on the message boards.

At a campground north of Lake James, Faherty spotted folks scrambling to get their campers and RVs out Thursday afternoon.

“We’ve seen what it’s done in the past and we’re trying to avoid the loss this time,” Greg Bryant said.

Duke Energy said that by Friday afternoon, we could see the highest lake levels ever on Lake James.

McDowell County said it responded to 60 weather-related calls overnight and has set up a shelter in Marion.

The state is moving more assets to western North Carolina on Thursday. In Caldwell County Thursday morning, a swift water rescue team arrived from Cary near Raleigh and is staging south of Lenoir.

In the Banner Elk area, Grandfather Mountain State Park announced it was closed Thursday and Friday. At 10 a.m. on Thursday, Grandfather’s Top Shop measured 5.38 inches of rain over the last 24 hours.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

(WATCH BELOW: Thursday morning’s forecast update with Meteorologist Keith Monday)