The bright orange helicopters of the Coast Guard have become ubiquitous after storms like Hurricane Harvey, and are often a sign of hope for residents trapped by rising waters. Help has arrived. The Coast Guard crews airlifted both people and pets to safety in the week since the storm inundated the area, sending rivers over their banks and cutting off communities across North Carolina.
Flight crews from Atlantic City, Cape Cod, Clearwater, Fla., Detroit and Miami joined those at the Coast Guard air station in Elizabeth City, N.C., to respond to Hurricane Florence.
Search and rescue flights started at daybreak, and continued throughout the day, with ground crews working to maintain the aircraft. “Ready for takeoff?” the pilot, Cdr. Matthew Furlong, asked shortly before 8 a.m. The sun emerged from the clouds, the grass blew, and the Jayhawk helicopter lifted.
“Omaha, Omaha, this is Coast Guard helo 6024,” a rescue swimmer, Reece Williams, 23, right, said into his headset, checking in with an airplane circling above handling air traffic control.
The Coast Guard typically operates over open water. “Inland search and rescue is not really our thing,” one pilot said.
A request came over the radio from the emergency operations center in Raleigh, N.C. “We have a 17-year-old diabetic who needs to be taken to a hospital.” The flight mechanic leaned out of the helicopter, guiding the pilots to land in a yard between stands of tall trees in Burgaw, N.C.
The boy’s home was dry, but emergency services could not reach him because many roads in Pender County, N.C., were blocked by water. The crew flew him to a baseball field beside a Baptist Church in Wilmington to meet an ambulance, which took him to a hospital. He has since recovered.
The next call was also in Pender County, where rivers overflowed, leaving people trapped on virtual islands. “Here’s some houses under water,” Alex Morris, the flight mechanic said at around 11 a.m. “I got a white flag waving.”
When the helicopter landed in her neighborhood of Rocky Point, N.C., Amanda Parrish, due to give birth in three weeks, left with her fiancé, Dominique Lesine, and their son, Braylon.
Two Coast Guard helicopters made multiple stops in Rocky Point. Some families not in danger of flooding struggled with whether to evacuate. “We can’t leave to get supplies and gas for our generator,” Danielle Carr, 27, said.
“We’re clear of the power lines,” Mr. Morris said as the Jayhawk lifted off. Commander Furlong, and his co-pilot, Lt. Cdr. Rick Williams, flew over flooded fields and forests, dropping off the families at a shopping mall parking lot in Wilmington, where police officers helped them unload.
The helicopter passed over what appeared to be a large kennel. Mr. Morris, left, and Mr. Williams used a heat sensing camera and observation to assess whether animals remained in the buildings. “They look empty,” Mr. Williams said.
A few minutes later, the crew saw a group waving from the ground and landed the aircraft. Five people came aboard, including Chris Moore with his two dogs. As of Friday morning, Coast Guard flight crews had helped 299 people and 116 pets in North Carolina, according to their air operations branch.
Around 3 p.m., the crew received a report of people waving for help from their rooftops, but the pilots were out of flight time for a rescue. Another helicopter would answer the call. “Today’s been eventful,” one crew member said as they flew back to Elizabeth City.
Produced by Rebecca Lieberman and Morrigan McCarthy.
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