Trucker Named TCA Highway Angel for Using His Trailer to Rescue 11 Flood Victims

October 8th, 2024

ALEXANDRIA, VA—The Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) has named truck
driver Michael Dorsey from Porter TX, a TCA Highway Angel for using his
trailer to attempt to keep flood victims afloat and alive. Dorsey drives for
Mercer Transportation out of Louisville, KY.

It’s an incredible story: On September 26, 2024 around 10:00 a.m. in Erwin, TN,
driver Dorsey was loading his flatbed semi truck with piping for a company
called Dura-Line in an industrial park. He was informed that flood waters were
coming. The town of Erwin was hit by flooding that devastated the region after
Hurricane Helene made landfall, unleashing historic levels of rain.

The industrial park is just a few hundred feet from the Nolichucky River, which
swelled with a rush of water comparable to nearly twice what cascades over
Niagara Falls, according to USA Today. As Dorsey was finishing loading up his
flatbed semi truck, water was flowing and 10 people from a neighboring
business asked if they could climb atop his truck to find refuge from the flood.

“I said sure,” said Dorsey. “So I let everybody get on my trailer.” Dorsey also
offered shelter to one frightened woman he called ‘Miss Bertha’, by allowing
her to sit in his truck.

“She sat in the cab with me and like 15 or 20 minutes later, we were overrun
by water,” Dorsey said. “It flipped my truck—I ended up having to lift her out of
my truck.”

Dorsey and another man helped put Miss Bertha on the trailer, as the water
rose quickly.

The waters were so strong that they separated the trailer from the truck and
carried the 12 terrified hangers-on downstream. At one point, the truck
capsized, and Dorsey and the others floated in the water hanging onto the
materials that had previously been strapped to the truck.

“Something hit me in the head and knocked me out,” Dorsey said. “When I fell
in the water, I guess it was so cold that it brought me back too.”

Dorsey and others rode the current until they were able to grab onto a bush in
the flood and hang on. Eventually they were rescued by emergency personnel.
Dorsey said of the 12 people who sought refuge on the truck, 6 survived. Miss
Bertha’s body has not been found, he said.

“The most terrifying part was just watching the water come, rise as we were
just sitting, not knowing what to expect,” he said.

A former Marine, Dorsey lost everything, and he is dealing with his insurance
company now. He also struggles with pain in his head, neck and numbness in
his legs and feet.

“I can’t hardly sleep because I keep thinking about Miss Bertha and all of the
people that died,” Dorsey said. “If I wouldn’t have been there, those people that
survived wouldn’t have made it—it would have been impossible. God had me
there for a reason.”

Since the TCA Highway Angel program’s inception in August 1997, nearly
1,400 professional truck drivers have been recognized as TCA Highway Angels
for exemplary kindness, courtesy, and courage displayed while on the job.

Thanks to the program’s presenting sponsor, EpicVue, and supporting
sponsors, DriverFacts and Northland Insurance, TCA is able to showcase
outstanding drivers like Mr. Dorsey.

The TCA Highway Angels website can be accessed at https://www.truckload.org/highway-angel/.