North Carolina search and rescue teams are deployed in several areas across the Carolinas to search for people whose lives are at risk due to dangerous flooding as rainfall totals, normally associated with major hurricanes, plague portions of eastern North Carolina and nearly all South Carolina.
“These situations are exactly what our crews train for and why continual training for these search and rescue teams is so vital,” said Public Safety Secretary Frank L. Perry. “I am grateful that we have had these very experienced teams on standby and ready to respond to help the many individuals in need.”
As a Raleigh-based search and rescue crew made their way to Hyde County Sunday to assist local officials with searches, they encountered near Swan Quarter a car that had been swept off the road and was submerged in eight to ten feet of water. The quick-thinking team sprang into action and pulled the vehicle’s two passengers from the sinking car.
It was just one of several rescue missions that the teams have completed in the past two days. Trained search and rescue crews, along with North Carolina National Guard soldiers who underwent swift water rescue and disaster response just-in-time training over the weekend, have been pressed into service in both Carolinas with life-saving results.