INDIANAPOLIS — After spending nearly a week in Florida helping those affected by Hurricane Michael, members of Indiana Task Force One have returned to Indiana.
The team had been in Panama City going door to door, searching homes and businesses, making sure anyone who stayed behind during the hurricane was unharmed.
“We had several people who were injured so we got them treatment. [We helped] people who were out of insulin [and] out of oxygen,” says Gerald George who was part of the 16-member water rescue team with Indiana Task Force One.
George also says the team worked on clearing roads so that emergency supplies like food and water could be more easily transported to those who needed it after the hurricane.
The team says the effects of Hurricane Michael were different than Hurricane Florence just a few weeks earlier in the Carolinas.
“[Hurricane Michael] was more of a wind event versus the storm surge event [of Hurricane Florence],” says George, who says the damage from Hurricane Michael resembled that of a tornado.
Although fewer than 20 people were sent to Florida, Tom Neal Battalion Chief Tom Neal with Indiana Task Force One says they have a much larger team that is always on standby.
“We have 200-plus members, so we have a number of members that have not on the deployments for Hurricane Florence nor Hurricane Michael, so we have team members that are ready to go at any time,” Neal says.
Photo courtesy of Indiana Task Force One.
