Connecticut National Guard Rescues People, Pets In North Carolina
From helicopters hovering above a flooded North Carolina city, Connecticut National Guard members who flew south ahead of Hurricane Florence saved more than 80 people and two dozen pets.
The 11 soldiers were first dispatched to the area last week as Florence’s intensity picked up.
Aboard two helicopters, a UH-60 Black Hawk and CH-47 Chinook, they flew to Tennessee, where they stayed before the storm made landfall.
“We are truly grateful for the tireless, monumental work Connecticut Guardsmen are doing in the wake of Hurricane Florence,” Maj. Gen. Fran Evon, adjutant general and commander of the Connecticut National Guard, said in a written statement. “We remain prepared to provide further support, with a C-130 on standby if needed.”
Since Florence hit, state officials said the unit has been transporting first responders, conducting search-and-rescue
missions and evacuating those in life-threatening situation.
Officials said the unit’s first mission was to move 24 firefighters from a host of agencies, along with 5,000 pounds of equipment, to Cape Fear, N.C.
From there, they visited the hardhit and flooded city of New Bern, N.C, where the Connecticut National Guard and its helicopters saved more than 80 people and two dozen animals, officials said.
While in New Bern, they ferried people and supplies to nearby towns to help establish distribution centers.
The powerful and expansive storm killed more than two dozen people in the Carolinas before weakening. Some areas saw more than 30 inches of rain, flooding neighborhoods.
“To drop everything at a moment’s notice and fly hundreds of miles away from home for days at a time to help complete strangers takes a special kind of person, and these Connecticut National Guard soldiers are to be commended for the work they are performing,” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said in a statement. “We know firsthand what it’s like to experience extraordinary weather, and we know how important the help of neighbors can be during recovery.”
Officials said the soldiers do not have a timetable for their return.
An Associated Press report is included in this story.