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28 Pennsylvania guardsmen assisting with Florence relief, rescue efforts

With Hurricane Florence still causing damage and despair, many are in need of relief and even rescue.

The National Guard has been activated to assist, and 28 guardsmen from Pennsylvania have been sent to the Carolinas.

On Monday morning, only Channel 11 News spoke with two of them over the phone from Columbia, South Carolina.

Chief Jason Murtha, of Enon Valley, and Lt. Wayne Thompson, of Elizabeth, were warming up helicopters, preparing to head toward the border.

The teams arrived Thursday in the Carolinas and surveyed damage from the sky Sunday.

“There's a lot of high water, some roads that were impassable, some small towns that were completely immersed in water,” Murtha said.

Helicopters are stocked with rescue equipment, and divers are on board, ready to save people in distress.

“We deploy out of Pennsylvania with -- we call it a ‘HART’ team, which is Helicopter Aquatic Rescue Team. These are the rescue divers, the rescue swimmers, that can lower down on a hoist cable and rescue people off of rooftops or car hoods, car roofs, things like that,” Murtha said.

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Those who are rescued will then be moved to drop-off points where they receive shelter, blankets, food and water, according to Thompson.

The guardsmen are prepared to stay all week, or longer, if the help is needed.

Murtha said the flooded rivers flow south, and so there is concern that the worst is yet to come.

“It’s what we train to do,” he said. “The whole idea of the National Guard is to simply be able to help out each other, each state -- in whatever capacity -- and be well-maintained and ready to go.”

 

Cox Media Group

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