The Fairfax County team gathers for a huddle.
On the weather map, Hurricane Milton headed out to sea followed by sunny weather on the horizon for mid-October but it wasn’t without much damage in Florida and North Carolina where the effects of Hurricane Helene were still being mopped up by members of Fairfax County’s Search and Rescue team “VA-TF1.”
VA-TF1 members continued to support rescue and relief efforts in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene. The crews encountered widespread damage to infrastructure and buildings. “Our team has been working in areas around Asheville, where they continue to search the valleys and riverbanks,” VA-TF1 said. The crews have encountered widespread damage to infrastructure and buildings.
In conjunction with Massachusetts Task Force 1, VA-TF1 members continued their search and rescue efforts by performing water operations in the Asheville, NC area affected by Hurricane Helene.In an effort which started out with 220 members from the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue team is now down to 80 people left in North Carolina helping the rebuilding efforts. A three-week stretch during the hurricane season is not unusual, said John Morrison, spokesperson for the Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue. “However long we’re needed,” he said, but added that some of the team out in the field have been swapped for new VA-TF1 replacements.
In the following days, the forecast for the hurricane changed but the flood danger did not, typical of the Florida area this time of year. “Following in the wake of Hurricane Milton, strong northeasterly flow aided by a high-pressure system over the southern Appalachians will provide the potential for continued coastal hazards as well as locally heavy rain along the Atlantic Coast of Florida,” the NWS forecast read.
In mid-October, the National Weather Service hurricane map does show an unnamed disturbance coming across the Atlantic Ocean. It has “a medium chance for development in the next 7 days,” NWS said.