As rescue teams from Northern Virginia have traveled to other locations to help with the devastation from Hurricane Helene, they have seen and spoken with people who lost everything due to flooding.
The last few days have been emotional and dramatic.
“It was a very wide storm, so it hit areas that were not expected to get hit at all,” said Jennifer Hiner, a medical specialist with Virginia Task Force 1, a disaster response team made up of experts from the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department.
The task force sent about 80 people down to Florida in the area of Treasure Island.
“There were a lot of tears,” Hiner said. “A lot of people lost everything.”
Houses that were right along the water were destroyed, either by water or sand.
“Sand just covered people’s front doors,” Hiner said. “This is the worst storm that’s hit that area.”
Deaths have been reported across six states, including Florida and Virginia. Southwest Virginia was hit particularly hard.
“Houses are completely ripped off their foundations,” said Justin Tirelli, battalion chief with the Arlington County Fire Department, which sent a rescue team to the area.
Bridges and roads were washed away.
“It’s really just a terrible situation,” Tirelli said. “The residents mostly are in shock that this is even happening.”
The Prince William County Department of Fire and Rescue also sent a team to help in the southwest portion of the state.
Kurt Heindrichs, operations chief with the department, said communication was a challenge.
“Landlines were down and cell towers were down,” said Heindrichs, who described it as being a “generational flood.”
“This is really going to impact that whole area of Virginia for years,” Heindrichs said. “Folks literally lost everything, and the only thing they had were the clothes on their backs.”
Hurricane Helene roared ashore late Thursday in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph winds.
A weakened Helene quickly moved through Georgia, then soaked the Carolinas with torrential rains.
So far, over 120 deaths have been attributed to the storm.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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