OT: Florence (Hurricane)

[Ozimoto]

So I have returned from my 2018 Hurricane Magical Mystery Tour. A quick synopsis follows. The Maryland Task Force received a request from FEMA to deploy to North Carolina on Monday 9/10. At that time Governor Hogan indicated that he wanted Maryland's Task Force to stay home as a state resource. The two FEMA task forces from Virginia were also held as state resources. This is normal and since the storm track at that time was potentially moving up the coast and possibly up the Chesapeake Bay that made sense. FEMA moved the task forces from New York, Ohio, and Indiana into the Carolina coastal regions.

By Tuesday, the storm forecast track had moved south and we were released by the governor and we became a FEMA asset once again. Tuesday night we were activated by FEMA and were sent to Columbia, South Carolina arriving Wednesday evening. We staged in Columbia awaiting the storm. Potential flooding of the midlands of South Carolina was anticipated based on the projected storm track. The storm made landfall on Thursday and it took two days until it made its way to Columbia. Fortunately, the rainfall amounts and winds were less than forecast and our services were not needed. We were released by the South Carolina EOC on Sunday morning. We were then asked to move into West Central North Carolina in anticipation of flash flooding and possible landslides in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. We arrived in Charlotte on Saturday evening and went into staging with the Charlotte Fire Department's swift water teams expecting that we would have a lot of work Sunday night into Monday. While it rained a lot and there were several fatalities south of the city when people tried to drive through high water, for the most part the streams stayed in their banks and most people heeded the warnings to avoid driving. We continued to stage through Monday in Charlotte in case there was severe river flooding during the day while the City guys moved east toward the coast. Once it became obvious that there would be no major flooding in central North Carolina and no landslides to the west we were released by the North Carolina EOC. Since there were sufficient resources in the east part of North Carolina (Multiple FEMA and State teams, National Guard, Coast Guard, Cajun Navy, et. al.) and South Carolina dodged the bullet for the most part we were demobilized yesterday and returned to Maryland. Happy for the people that our services were not needed. Somewhat disappointed that we were there for seven days, ready to go and were not utilized, but such is the nature of what we do.

On the plus side, I only had to eat one MRE the whole trip!

Hope I didn't bore you all with this...

For those who were affected by the storm, I wish "all you all" and your families all the best in your recovery efforts. It is going to be a long haul.

 

[triaddukefan]

So I have returned from my 2018 Hurricane Magical Mystery Tour. A quick synopsis follows. The Maryland Task Force received a request from FEMA to deploy to North Carolina on Monday 9/10.


Hope I didn't bore you all with this...

For those who were affected by the storm, I wish "all you all" and your families all the best in your recovery efforts. It is going to be a long haul.

We Carolinians thank you and your team for your service.

 

[Bama fan]

So I have returned from my 2018 Hurricane Magical Mystery Tour. A quick synopsis follows. The Maryland Task Force received a request from FEMA to deploy to North Carolina on Monday 9/10. At that time Governor Hogan indicated that he wanted Maryland's Task Force to stay home as a state resource. The two FEMA task forces from Virginia were also held as state resources. This is normal and since the storm track at that time was potentially moving up the coast and possibly up the Chesapeake Bay that made sense. FEMA moved the task forces from New York, Ohio, and Indiana into the Carolina coastal regions.

By Tuesday, the storm forecast track had moved south and we were released by the governor and we became a FEMA asset once again. Tuesday night we were activated by FEMA and were sent to Columbia, South Carolina arriving Wednesday evening. We staged in Columbia awaiting the storm. Potential flooding of the midlands of South Carolina was anticipated based on the projected storm track. The storm made landfall on Thursday and it took two days until it made its way to Columbia. Fortunately, the rainfall amounts and winds were less than forecast and our services were not needed. We were released by the South Carolina EOC on Sunday morning. We were then asked to move into West Central North Carolina in anticipation of flash flooding and possible landslides in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. We arrived in Charlotte on Saturday evening and went into staging with the Charlotte Fire Department's swift water teams expecting that we would have a lot of work Sunday night into Monday. While it rained a lot and there were several fatalities south of the city when people tried to drive through high water, for the most part the streams stayed in their banks and most people heeded the warnings to avoid driving. We continued to stage through Monday in Charlotte in case there was severe river flooding during the day while the City guys moved east toward the coast. Once it became obvious that there would be no major flooding in central North Carolina and no landslides to the west we were released by the North Carolina EOC. Since there were sufficient resources in the east part of North Carolina (Multiple FEMA and State teams, National Guard, Coast Guard, Cajun Navy, et. al.) and South Carolina dodged the bullet for the most part we were demobilized yesterday and returned to Maryland. Happy for the people that our services were not needed. Somewhat disappointed that we were there for seven days, ready to go and were not utilized, but such is the nature of what we do.

On the plus side, I only had to eat one MRE the whole trip!

Hope I didn't bore you all with this...

For those who were affected by the storm, I wish "all you all" and your families all the best in your recovery efforts. It is going to be a long haul.

While I understand that ,once deployed, you want to dive in, I am glad you did not need to do so. It is heartening to know that there are people who are ready and willing to help. Thank you for the update.