Virginia Task Force 2 relocated their base of operations on Monday from Florida to Mitchell County, North Carolina in order to offer more relief to Hurricane Helene victims.
In the immediate wake of Hurricane Helene, VA-TF2 responded to the devastation in Florida and provided aid mainly in the Tampa Bay area.
After hitting Florida, the storm took a northern path through North Carolina, prompting the VA-TF2's relocation.
"It was both a wind event and a flood event," said Task Force leader Michael Brashear. "They experienced some very devastating damage with flash floods near the river streams. They had extremely high water that came on pretty fast."
"At the same time they had very high winds so lots of trees are down, and power lines," he added. "The power is completely out."
In Mitchell County, North Carolina, Task Force 2 has conducted 218 targeted searches, helped 112 people and evacuated four people.
"Our primary mission is search and rescue, where we're tasked with what we call hasty searches," Brashear said. "At the same time we are also doing targeted searches, where we get intel to go directly to that area or that address to see if we can locate that person."
Brashear described the damage in Mitchell County as widespread, but he is also confident in his team's ability to respond to the conditions.
"This is what our team is designed for," Brashear said. "We can cover things from search and rescue, hazmat situations, we have team doctors, paramedics, K-9 dogs ... anything that pops up that will help this community in the recovery efforts, we're here to do that."
Brashear expects VA-TF2 to remain in the Mitchell County area for at least another week.