BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Vermont rescue crews are hard at work lending a helping hand to southeastern states hit hard by Hurricane Helene.
Vermont’s Urban Search and Rescue Team has been in Florida since Tuesday performing swift water rescues in the Pensacola, Orlando and Tampa Bay areas.
Team Coordinator Mike Cannon says his crew, along with teams from other states, have searched more than 41,000 buildings, with more work still to do.
“We’ve been tasked today with four other in-state Florida water rescue teams. We have to cover about 26 miles of barrier island between these four teams. We’ve been tasked with a bunch of broken up divisions in these areas to continue to search for missing people,” Cannon said.
Cannon says once the team’s work is done, they have already received preliminary approval to head to North Carolina to assist other agencies.