Teams from state help with hurricane response
Emergency, OG&E crews, weather experts head east
As the storm bore down on the East Coast, teams of emergency responders from Oklahoma prepared Wednesday for the worst to come.
Aircraft and crews, swimmers, weather experts and electric line crews have taken positions from Tennessee to the Carolinas to assist with storm needs.
An Oklahoma search and rescue helicopter team left Wednesday for Hurricane Florence and will be stationed in Tennessee and the Carolinas along the East Coast to respond to areas affected, the Oklahoma City Fire Department reported.
The Oklahoma Task Force 1 Helicopter Search and Rescue Team left Oklahoma City on Wednesday morning, said David Macy, an Oklahoma City fire department spokesman.
Oklahoma helicopter crews will stay in Tennessee until the high winds pass from the hurricane and then assist in the Carolinas and possibly Georgia, Macy said. Rescue swimmers and other ground crew members left Oklahoma City on Wednesday morning for Raleigh, North Carolina, he said.
The Oklahoma helicopter task force is a partnership among the Oklahoma National Guard, State Department
of Emergency Management, Oklahoma Office of Homeland Security, and Oklahoma Urban Search and Rescue Task Force.
Lt. Col. Lindy White, an Oklahoma National Guard spokeswoman, said officials from East Coast states are expected to request additional assistance in the days to come.
Oklahoma emergency management officials are prepared to respond to any requests and deploy resources as needed, White said. Officials met Wednesday to discuss plans and monitor the hurricane.
“We can only hope it won’t hit hard,” White said.
White said Oklahoma Army and Air National Guard resources, including aircraft and boats, will be available.
“We have a lot of assets available,” White said.
Meanwhile, the state helicopter search and rescue team that was deployed includes rescue swimmers from Oklahoma City and Norman fire departments and pilots and aircraft from the Oklahoma National Guard. Equipment has been provided by the Office of Homeland Security and the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.
Also, more than 30 Oklahoma Gas & Electric Company trucks with 72 crew members left Oklahoma City on Tuesday to head to Raleigh, North Carolina, to be ready to respond to any damage from Florence, according to an OG&E news release.
A team of University of Oklahoma meteorologists and research scientists is headed into the eye of the storm, said spokeswoman Jana Smith. The crew was near Wilmington, North Carolina, on Wednesday, she said.
Smith said the team will launch weather balloons to collect data on wind speeds. They will also gather data on rainstorms, such as size of raindrops, from the hurricane and any possible tornadoes that could result.
“There are lots of things they are interested in studying about the hurricane, so they have to get close to it,” Smith said.