Missouri’s premier urban search and rescue team has been in North Carolina to help Hurricane Helene victims. Missouri Task Force 1 has been searching for, rescuing, and recovering victims. Members have also been assessing property that has been caught up in the hurricane’s wrath.

Gale Blomenkamp, Boone County, Mo. Assistant Fire Chief, was asked if it’s been difficult for task force members to deal with the flooding in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

“Difficult to perform? I wouldn’t say that, but the destruction of what they’re seeing is some of the worst that they’ve ever seen,” he told Missourinet. “When you dump that much water in the mountains and it comes down on those hillsides, it destroys everything that it comes across and runs into.”

Blomenkamp said they’ve worked on “a lot” of debris piles.

“They’ve got about ten miles of the Catawba River that they were working, and then these lakes and ponds that they’re trying to, trying to clean up,” he said. “It’s been slow going. It’s been difficult work, but the crews are working hard, and they’re doing good, and spirits are high.”

Members have been working in western North Carolina.

“They were assigned targeted searches the last couple days,” he said. “They brought in some special sonar equipment. They’ve been working on a pond and a specific lake up there in McDowell County, North Carolina.”

Task Force 1 is awaiting its next assignment. Blomenkamp said it’s possible that members could be moved to another area of western North Carolina for more search and recovery efforts. But they could move south as Hurricane Milton heads for Florida.

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