VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Eight members of the Virginia Beach Fire Department’s Swiftwater Rescue Team, VA-2, left Hampton Roads Sunday evening to help with ongoing flood response operations in Texas and are expected to arrive in Austin, Texas around 1 a.m. central time Tuesday.
The VBFD Swiftwater Rescue Team is one of approximately 30 specialized teams stationed throughout Virginia and its deployment marks the team’s fifth mission since its formation in 2022.
They left the Harry E. Diezel Fire Training Center around 5 p.m. Sunday and will be joining a similar swiftwater rescue team from Bristol, Va., and sadly, there’s a lot of work to do. VBFD posted video on social media showing the team leaving.
“We are proud to support our partners in Texas during this challenging time,” said Fire Chief Ken Pravetz. “Our Swiftwater Rescue Team is highly trained and prepared to assist communities impacted by flooding.”
There is no way to describe central Texas except to say it is a catastrophic disaster zone, with more than 100 people confirmed dead as of about 6 p.m. Monday.
“This is swiftwater, so the ability to have swiftwater response capability and water rescue is what we’re being sent down there to help augment and assist with,” said Battalion Chief Michael Carter, a member of the Swiftwater Rescue Team.
The Swiftwater team will also support local responders.
“So, I assume with local fire departments, local emergency responders and emergency management and anything really, they need help, and we are going to be able to try to assist them in that arena,” Carter said.
The eight-person team drove through the night, around 1,700 miles to Austin Texas, taking with them three inflatable boats with motors, rope gear, chainsaws, three pick-up trucks and two trailers. Once they get to Austin, they’ll be given assignments and then they’ll head out.
“They are taking boats and other equipment,” Carter said. “They will be swimming out to get folks, whether that’s in swiftwater or not. They will be in gear, equipment that they’re going to be outfitted with, obviously, and will have any rope rescue equipment to be able to secure them and to be able to work with them down the line.”
Carter says it is tough to watch what is happening in Texas on TV.
“You know, it’s scary to see,” Carter said. “But our team has faced some of the similar situations, most recently in the western part of the state when we had those floods back in October.”
The Swiftwater Rescue Team is now in its fifth deployment since 2022, and the second one out of state.
“Once they arrive at that staging location, they’re going to get a better description of exactly what they’re going to be doing, and where they’ll be located from there, and who they will be teamed up and working with and working for,” Carter said.
He said this will be a different type of beast to battle.
“So, different than the Oceanfront, right? These are those type of five-point rapids which you probably saw on the video,” Carter said. “It happened in a very quick period of time.”
Some told stories of housing completely flooded within five minutes.
Make no mistake, the team is prepared,
“They are prepared to be able to deploy in those kinds of situations and be able to access folks either by boat or by lines or by going out in the water to assist them,” Carter said.