Local crews help Hurricane Dorian victims along the East Coast
WASHINGTON (FOX 5 DC) - As Hurricane Dorian barrels up the East Coast, first responders from the Greater Washington region continue battling widespread flooding and powerful blasts of wind.
“The noise and the wind,” one woman remarked Friday in Ocean City. “It’s gonna get worse.”
Maryland Task Force One, a team of more than 80 first responders from Montgomery County, returned home Friday after days in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas.
Meanwhile, members of fire departments from Arlington, Fairfax, and Alexandria remain ready to help in the Tidewater region of Virginia.
PEA ISLAND, NC - SEPTEMBER 06: Highway 12 leading onto Hatteras Island is covered with sand after Hurricane Dorian hit the area on September 6, 2019 in Pea Island, North Carolina. Dorian passed Charleston S.C. yesterday as a category 3 storm and now (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images / Getty Images)
“We always preach that everyone should be prepared. This was a part of getting prepared as a state for the storm,” said Arlington County Fire Department Capt. Sarah Marchegiani. Luckily though, that area hasn’t been hit as hard as initially feared, with the team now set to return home as early as Saturday. “They’re ready to help out in case it gets to that point.”
Others in Maryland and Virginia say they’re relieved, at least so far, especially after seeing the heartbreaking damage Dorian left behind further south.
“This is about as good as we could’ve expected from the track that they were originally calling for,” a man said Friday in Ocean City. “So we got fortunate with this one.”