STARKE, Fla. - More than 4,700 National Guardsmen were mobilized across the Southeast Saturday, searching for and rescuing victims of Hurricane Helene, clearing debris and assisting first responders.
As the massive storm moved ashore at Florida’s Big Bend area late Thursday night, 3,900 members of the Florida National Guard were staged throughout the area to offer humanitarian assistance, security, debris cleanup and search and rescue missions with 450 tactical vehicles, 13 helicopters, boats and generators.
Florida National Guard members were spread out in 21 counties to support and coordinate emergency response missions and requests for help.
The Florida National Guard conducted search and rescue missions to support local authorities in Taylor, Dixie, Levy, Pasco, and Hernando counties to recover distressed civilians. Thirty people were rescued and evacuated from flooded areas in Pasco and Hernando counties Friday.
Florida National Guard engineering resources were deployed to assist with route clearance in Taylor and Dixie counties. Six Zodiac boats were assigned to search and rescue missions in Taylor County.
The Florida National Guard was also supporting a logistics distribution mission in Hernando County and staffing and supporting the State Logistics Response Center in Orlando. The Alabama National Guard contributed more than 40 Guardsmen and UH-60, HH-60, Chinook, and UH-72 helicopters to assist in the Florida response and the Mississippi National Guard sent 17 Guardsmen and three helicopters to Florida. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III approved Brig. Gen. Alexander Harlamor of the Florida Army National Guard to serve as dual-status commander to coordinate the federal/state military response in Florida.
Austin also approved a dual-status commander in Georgia. Brig Gen. Kris Marshall was directing more than 480 National Guard members to assist there.
In Tennessee, two dozen Guard members were activated, including 15 who helped evacuate a flooded hospital in Erwin with 6 tactical vehicles and two boats and nine Guardsmen conducting swift water and boat rescue operations.
More than 50 hospital staff members and patients were trapped at the Unicoi County Hospital Friday due to severe flooding. Within the hour, the Tennessee National Guardsmen assigned to the 1-230th Assault Helicopter Battalion in Knoxville assembled three UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters and crew for aerial rescue operations. Once the weather cleared shortly after 1:00 p.m. CDT, the mission was approved and the aircraft departed Joint Base McGhee-Tyson to join the Virginia State Police, who had been requested by the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency through the national, state-to-state mutual aid program, Emergency Management Assistance Compact. Through their combined efforts, the staff and patients were transported to a high school and the mission completed at 3:08 p.m. CDT.
In North Carolina, about 200 Guard members were activated, supported by 15 Guardsmen and two Chinook helicopters from the Maryland and Connecticut Guard.
Over 40 Alabama Guardsmen assisted the Alabama Emergency Management Agency with warehouse support.
The Virginia National Guard staged almost 60 Soldiers, using tactical trucks capable of high mobility transportation in the Abingdon area and three Black Hawk helicopters with rescue hoist capabilities in the Roanoke area. They were linking with local emergency managers to assist as needed.
“The Virginia National Guard is ready to support the commonwealth during times of need, and we are currently mobilizing a team as this storm approaches,” said Brig. Gen. Todd Hubbard, Virginia National Guard director of the joint staff. “When our troops get the call to assist Virginia localities, they leave their loved ones and their jobs on short notice. We owe a special thanks to their families and employers for their continued support which is so critical to mission success.”
Typical missions for the National Guard during hurricane or tropical storm response operations are transporting first responders, distributing food and water to citizens in remote areas using trucks to move through high water, and providing chain saw teams to reduce debris to clear roads or power line routes.
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Contributing: Cotton Puryear, Virginia National Guard Public Affairs, and Capt. Kealy Moriarty, Tennessee National Guard Public Affairs Office
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