ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Alligators aren’t one of the hazards Buncombe County’s first responders usually face, but a team dispatched to help in flood-ravaged southeast Texas already has gotten that wake-up call during the past several days of rescues and evacuations.
“It’s a really different dynamic. We don’t deal with that here,” said Brittany Robinson, Buncombe County emergency manager and team administrator for Task Force 2, after crews told her of spotting alligators while taking boats across water-covered lands.
North Carolina Emergency Management put out a call on Saturday that Texas needed help from swift water rescue personnel after days of heavy flooding over a wide area left hundreds of people stranded in their homes, particularly in hard-to-reach rural communities.
Buncombe County’s Task Force 2, which earned honors for helping with Vermont floods in 2023, activated an all-male, 17-person team, which includes two people from Buncombe County Emergency Services, nine from the Asheville Fire Department, four from Skyland Fire Department, and one apiece from the West Buncombe and Reems Creek fire departments, Robinson said.
Emergency Services Director Taylor Jones told Buncombe County Commissioners on Tuesday that the crew 14 1/2 hours to get to a base of operations, then was out helping with rescues and evacuations within a matter of hours.
“They’re really making Buncombe County look good, but also building resilience” that can be used in future disasters closer to home, Jones said. “It’s just a good opportunity for us to give back to our country.”
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Robinson is communicating with the team and coordinating from an office in Asheville.
She said that with a convoy of five vehicles, two trailers and boats, Task Force 2 originally went to Bryan, Texas, then got its first assignment in the small town of Huntsville.
There, they tried to make contact with about 100 residents, many of whose homes were surrounded by water and cut off from roads.
There and elsewhere, the crews evacuate residents or deliver food, water and emergency supplies if the people decide to shelter in place.
“They did some evacuations of people who thought they wanted to stay in place and then wanted to evacuate when they saw the water going higher and higher,” Robinson said.
Unlike some disasters, like a hurricane, where the majority of people evacuate, the Texas floods have left large numbers of people remaining in their homes. Task Force 2 tries to make contact with every single person who has remained.
On Monday, the task force was sent to Orange County, which borders Louisiana in the southeast corner of Texas.
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One crew went to Lumberton, in charge of what are called “hasty searches,” going from house to house to see who’s there. And they searched a wide area in case anyone might be stranded in a vehicle or elsewhere, Robinson said.
A second crew went to Barlowe Lake Estates, doing similar searches. “Some places are very inundated and you can’t get anywhere.
Other places the water is low,” Robinson said.
When the boats were out on one of the searches, a member of the task force spotted an alligator and got the wake-up call, later telling Robinson “I really need to pay attention to this out here…”
Compared to other disasters, “This one is a lot of water. A lot of communications are cut off from the normal. A lot of people decided to shelter in place…which is good as long as you can confirm that they’re good,” she said.
On Wednesday, due to a forecast of more heavy rain hitting Texas, the state asked if Task Force 2 might be able to extend its deployment for a total of 14 days.
“They’re seeing lots of devastation, but everybody’s spirits are real high,” Robinson said. “There was zero hesitation (from) anybody.
They all have servant hearts… They’re in it for the long haul no matter what they’re up against.”
Members of Task Force 2 currently in Texas are:
From Buncombe County Emergency Services
Allen Morgan
Mike Gibson
From Asheville Fire Department
Wes Rogers
Nathan Miller
JM Keupp
Wallace Sexton
Jay Bettencourt
Corey Bass
Kevin Profitt
Craig Meier
Brad Wade
From Skyland Fire Department
Anthony Dercole
Chris Sitton
Dan Coward
Lee Benfield
From West Buncombe Fire Department
Lucas McCracken
From Reems Creek Fire Department
David Keplinger
From North Carolina Emergency Management
Greg Hardee