(WWJ) — Search and rescue efforts are continuing across the South following the devastation of Hurricane Helene, which wreaked havoc as it made landfall in Florida last week and continued into Georgia and North Carolina.
The death toll has reportedly surpassed 180, with hundreds of people still missing after what is being called one of the worst storms in American history.
Hurricane Helene brought heavy flash flooding, landslides and strong winds. Many towns were largely wiped out after at least one dam in North Carolina failed, leading to catastrophic flooding.
Many Michiganders have headed down south to help with relief efforts, including the 19-person Michigan Task Force 1 team, deployed on Sept. 26 by Michigan State Police Emergency Management.
Chris Martin, the leader of Michigan Task Force 1, told WWJ Newsradio 950’s Taylor Dietz he’s been on many rescue missions to different parts of the country and what he’s seen in North Carolina is “by far some of the worst devastation I’ve seen on any of the responses I’ve been to.”
Martin said the first day of their nine-day mission was spent traveling and the next two days were full of rescues in Burke County, one of the hardest hit areas.
“We were in rescue mode helping first responders take people out of cars that were trapped in water, houses that were overcome by water and even rescuers that got caught up doing the things they were doing,” Martin said.
After leaving Burke County, the team went to the area surrounding Chimney Rock and Lake Lure, where the dam failed.
“The devastation was just incomprehensible, what it did to that town,” he said. “We worked for a couple of days removing people from areas that were cut off because bridges collapsed or they were across the river or in areas where the trees were down, so much that they couldn’t even walk out of their subdivision.”
Martin said seeing the devastation in the small town of Chimney Rock — a well-known landmark in the Appalachian region — made him wish he had vacationed there prior to the devastation.
“Because what I see from Google Maps, it was a beautiful town. And now it’ll never be the same. Hopefully the people in the area can recover somewhat, but the way it was will never be recreated. It was such a beautiful town and now it’s just devastated,” he said.
The team also conducted primary searches and damage assessment in that area before moving on Wednesday to McDowell County, where they will work with the Rocky Mount team and K-9 teams to search along river banks and structures impacted by the flood.
Wednesday is the last day of search and rescue efforts before the team will return to Michigan on Friday.