Bay State crew heads out to help find Fla. hurricane victims
Three Massachusetts emergency workers departed for Florida yesterday to provide assistance as search and rescue crews continue the effort to account for as many as 250 residents who authorities believe may have tried to ride out Hurricane Michael, which flattened the panhandle town of Mexico Beach.
Last week, Gov. Charlie Baker authorized the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency to send a small Emergency Operations Center team to help with the Sunshine State’s recovery efforts.
In a statement last week, Baker said: “The commonwealth stands at the ready to assist residents in Florida and neighboring states as they deal with the immediate and long-term impacts of Hurricane Michael. As this team heads to Florida, we are actively monitoring for additional requests to support response and recovery operations.”
A spokesman for MEMA told the Herald yesterday that the team would be assisting with the Infrastructure Branch of the Florida State Emergency Response Team.
MEMA Director Kurt Schwartz said in a press release: “Just as other states have responded to our requests through EMAC to bolster our disaster response and recovery operations in Massachusetts, including the response to the September 2018 natural gas pipeline incident in the greater Lawrence area, we are able to support Florida as it deals with the impacts of Hurricane Michael.”
Meanwhile, crews in Mexico Beach had to clear debris and rubble from a collapsed section of the beachfront highway. The death toll from Michael’s destructive march from Florida to Virginia stood at 17, with just one confirmed death so far in Mexico Beach, a town of about 1,000 people that took a direct hit from the hurricane and its 155 mph winds last week. About 1,700 search and rescue personnel have checked 25,000 homes, Florida Gov. Rick Scott said.
“If we lose only one life, to me that’s going to be a miracle,” said Mexico Beach Mayor Al Cathey.
Today, President Trump plans to visit both Florida and Georgia to see how much damage has been done. More than 190,000 homes and businesses in Florida were without electricity along with 120,000 in Georgia.
On NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said: “There are a lot of inland areas, some of these poor rural counties to the north of there. These counties took a devastating hit.”
Florida officials also had to evacuate about 3,000 inmates from two prisons that were damaged by the hurricane. Both the Gulf Correctional Institution and Annex and the Calhoun Correctional Institution had damage on the roof and infrastructure, which brought on security concerns, authorities said. No prisoners or staff members were injured during the hurricane.