The East Tennessee State Buccaneers football team faced an unexpected adventure when their buses were stranded by flooding from Hurricane Helene. The team endured a 12+ hour delay, navigating information blackouts, bathroom breaks, the kindness of strangers, and even Waffle House deliveries before finally reaching Charleston for their game against The Citadel.
“Welcome to the bus league, baby,” the first-year coach of the East Tennessee State Buccaneers chirped Saturday morning.
This trip from hell—or through hell—began with the ETSU team loading up the buses on campus in Johnson City on Friday morning. After being told Thursday the highways were expected to be O.K., reports that morning turned dire—the Nolichucky River was reaching flood stage, which would cut off departure to the south. ETSU went into hurry-up mode to get on Interstate 26 and beat the flood out of town.
They exited I-26 in Fletcher, N.C., in hopes of taking a different highway to Spartanburg, S.C. But that route was closed down. Lamb says they parked in a lot off the interstate which began to flood, so they drove half a mile further to higher ground. The buses managed to go a couple of miles to near the Asheville Regional Airport, where they parked near the shelter for unhoused people. All hotels were full and out of power. After eating their sandwiches and letting the players stretch their legs, the staff got everyone back on the buses around 8 p.m. Friday and told them they were going to spend the night where they were.
About an hour later, two ETSU coaches, offensive coordinator Joe Scelfo and quarterbacks coach Tyler Dell, needed to use the bathroom. They walked to a gas station, where they encountered a guy who said a hotel not far away had wireless service. The stranger, who Lamb identified as a traveler from Michigan named Ryan Ratliff, gave the coaches a ride to the hotel so they could communicate with their families and spread the word the team was safe—stranded, but safe.
With cell service restored, they were able to call in a massive Waffle House order to be delivered to the hotel upon their arrival. The players feasted, then went to sleep.
Hurricane Helene ETSU Buccaneers Football Transportation Delays Southern Conference
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