Maryland soldiers rescue victims in North Carolina after Helene

BALTIMORE, Md. — Cut off from the rest of the world, flood victims in and around Asheville, North Carolina, are looking to the sky for help, and the Maryland Helicopter Water Response Team has carried out 17 missions, saving 65 people in the region since Saturday, including an infant.

“I saw the devastation,” said Maj. Gen. Janeen Birckhead of the Maryland National Guard. “The team sends back images: the trees, the ground, the houses that have actually left their foundations or are no longer there, and you think about all that. the team that comes in and saves a baby or dozens of pets that people really care about. So those are the kinds of stories that I hear and just get thank yous from people that I don’t even know.

The Maryland National Guard performed a similar function while deploying to the same state after Hurricane Florence in 2018 and increased its water rescue training in the Chesapeake Bay, making it uniquely qualified to perform such rescues .

In addition to this initial relief team, Guard Soldiers also deliver critical supplies to where they are needed most.

“We use our air assets, the Chinooks and the Black Hawk, two teams there in constant rotation,” Birckhead said. “Hundreds of gallons of water, pallets of food, to get resources to people that we can’t extract from areas. They’re residential areas, so there’s nowhere to land.”

Chinook helicopters delivered 39 tons of cargo, food and water to the area while rescuing 20 additional victims.

A relatively small group of Marylanders who are making a huge difference for the people of Western North Carolina when help is hard to come by.

“We do the best we can for them,” Birckhead said. “We hope we can save as many lives, get people back on their feet and run as much as we are able to do.” We will be there for as long as we need and to support our communities.