WASHINGTON — Members of the Virginia National Guard will head to Texas to help with rescue efforts amid catastrophic flooding along the state’s Gulf Coast.
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced on WTOP’s “Ask the Governor” that 40 National Guard troops would deploy Thursday morning to support rescue work in the flooded areas of the state
Texas officials have said they don’t have enough equipment needed to rescue residents from flooded neighborhoods throughout the city. The Houston area has witnessed five straight days of rain, seeing as much as 52 inches of rainfall from Harvey, which made landfall as a category 4 hurricane last week but has weakened to a tropical storm.
McAuliffe said he expects the state will be asked to send more resources once the initial rescue phase ends.
More than a dozen members of elite search and rescue teams from Fairfax County, Virginia, and Montgomery County, Maryland, have already arrived in Texas to help the relief efforts. All 28 such teams that operate under the Federal Emergency Management Agency have been deployed to the Gulf Coast.
The Maryland National Guard has not been called to respond to the flooding but state officials continue to monitor the situation to see how the state might be able to help, said Col. Charles Kohler, spokesman for the state’s National Guard.
