In the midst of Hurricane Harvey’s deadly flooding, Coast Guard units on the Chesapeake Bay were helping to coordinate some of the 10,000 rescues made by emergency responders.
“Coast Guard members in the Portsmouth Federal Building provided 24 by 7 support to the Hurricane Harvey response in various ways including arranging for helicopters, boats and people to deploy from around the country to conduct some of the over 10,000 rescues, pollution response and port reconstitution operations,” said Captain Edward St. Pierre, Atlantic Area Chief of Staff.
The Coast Guard says more than 10,600 lives have been saved so far.
At this point, the search and rescue phase is slowly winding down, but for the Coast Guard Atlantic Area members stationed at Hampton Roads, the response is far from over.
More than 50 active duty and reserve personnel from the Tidewater area are deployed to affected areas in Texas and Louisiana. And more than 250 Coast Guard members are actively participating in the response from here in the Tidewater Area, with 70 surge staff scheduled to join in.
Local Coast Guard units providing support include the Fifth Coast Guard District, Force Readiness Command, Maritime Security Response Team, USCG Communications Command, Incident Management Assistance Team and members assigned to Base Portsmouth and the Portsmouth Federal Building.
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