The Massachusetts Task Force 1 Urban Search and Rescue Team leaves from Beverly to head to North Carolina. Photo: Courtesy of Massachusetts Task Force 1.
BEVERLY, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — The Massachusetts FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Team has deployed their members to North Carolina ahead of Hurricane Helene's landfall in Florida Thursday night
The team, called Massachusetts Task Force 1, is waiting for orders to either head south or stay in North Carolina to assist communities in the wake of the Category 3 storm.
State of emergencies have been declared in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
The team is located in Beverly, and members hail from all over New England. Engineers, rescue specialists and doctors are just some of the occupations held by the 45 volunteers on the ground in North Carolina.
Thomas Gatzunis, public information officer for the team, said Task Force 1 members have gone through hundreds of thousands of hours of training and are capable of completing swift water rescue, which will prove paramount for forecasted flash floods in the South.
“This is a foot of actual rainwater that’s going to be on the ground in those areas, areas where their groundwater and their floodwater are already taxed and high”
Gatzunis said the team is prepared for anything.
“It’ll be [dependent] on what Mother Nature brings. We go down planning for the worst and hope for the best”
WBZ's Brooke McCarthy (@BrookeWBZ) reports.
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