North Carolina is sending five swift water rescue teams to Texas to help with the recovery from Hurricane Harvey. Jared Brumbaugh has more.
North Carolina Department of Public Safety spokesperson Keith Acree said 92 people from various fire departments around the state have left for College Station, Texas.
“They’re equipped with small boats and other equipment to affect water rescues and remove people from houses that are surrounded by water from other situations where they’re stranded by water.”
The teams are from Charlotte, Fayetteville, Greensboro, Henderson County and Raleigh-Durham. The teams can handle a variety of rescues including using small boats and other equipment to rescue people from flooded homes and others stranded by floodwaters in precarious locations.
“They will travel to a staging point in College Station in Texas and then from there, they will receive orders from Texas Emergency Management Officials and local authorities to task them with specific missions and locations where they’ll be working.”
North Carolina has 30 highly-trained swift water rescue teams. The state-coordinated program came after Hurricane Fran in 1996. The team worked to evacuate residents during Hurricane Floyd in 1999 and was very active during Hurricane Matthew last year.
