Jordan Seidhom, a helicopter pilot from North Carolina, has been threatened with arrest for rescuing victims affected by Hurricane Helene on his helicopter. Seidhom, who has been rescuing victims of the recent devastating hurricane in the state, was barred from flying over the area by local leaders due to a flying restriction.
As per a report by the New York Post, Seidhom has been threatened with arrest by local leaders if he continues making the flights to rescue Helene victims.
Who Is Jordan Seidhom?
As per the New York Post report, Seidhom formerly was an employee of the Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Office. He reportedly led the narcotics unit at the sheriff’s office. A report by Queen City News quoted Seidhom talking about what prompted him to start the rescue mission.
He said that after the impact of the hurricane, he read about a family stuck in a mountain in Banner Elk. He said: "“I thought, I have a helicopter, maybe I can help.” After that, he and his teenage son, Landon Seidhom, started providing water and food to the family. They also started looking for other stranded people.
Jordan and Landon were able to fly out four stranded victims back to safety on Saturday. Then, on Sunday, they found a married couple waving at them from their home which was washed away in the floods. They were able to take the couple to first responders. All the while, the father-son duo slept in recliners at a pilot lounge.
While they had plans to rescue other victims too, they said they were stopped by a Lake Lure fire official who threatened them with arrest if they continued their rescue mission, Jordan Seidhom told Queen City News.
“I explained to him that I left my son on the side of the mountain, and I left another victim. I was going to go back and bring them, it was already set up for the landing spot and then I would get out of his area. He told me I wasn’t going to go back up the mountain to get them, I was going to leave them there,” Seidhom said.