Hurricane season

How Connecticut is helping people affected by Hurricane Helene

Our state is stepping in to help people in flood-ravaged communities.

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A dire situation still unfolding across the southeast.

Four days after Helene made landfall in Florida's Big Bend region as a category 4 hurricane, millions are without power, there's a lack of water and fuel and food is scarce.

And people from our state are heading south to try to help. 

"Our help and our scope of assistance isn't just limited to the borders of Connecticut, it's helping all the 50 states whenever we can," said Major Mike Wilcoxson of the Connecticut National Guard.

Members of the CT National Guard flew to North Carolina on Friday, and they've helped nearly 50 people, including 10 students who they helped evacuate from Lees-Mcrae College in Banner Elk, North Carolina.

They've also brought in 46,000 pounds of food, water, and baby formula.

"We're always humbled and happy to respond. This is what we train to do every day," said Wilcoxson.

Connecticut's Urban Search and Rescue Team is also helping out. They deployed eight people to North Carolina over the weekend. This includes seven swift water technicians and one communications engineer. 

"So far they've been doing searching of the riverbanks and debris piles and searching vehicles that were either stranded or washed away," said Jonathan Hartenbaum, Operations and Logistics Manager with the Connecticut Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security. "They have performed some rescues of people who have been stranded in their homes."

The Connecticut region of the American Red Cross has about a dozen volunteers in Florida and Georgia, and they plan to send more volunteers in the coming weeks.

"So, we're providing snacks and water and food and working with our partners to get those to the resource-need areas, and that takes some time," said Richard Branigan, Regional Chief Executive Officer of the American Red Cross.

Branigan says the Red Cross is expected to send another response team to the southeast this week. Stamford-based Americares is expected to be in Asheville on Tuesday with medicine and other relief supplies.

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