Rock Hill soldiers help clear debris in Puerto Rico during Hurricane Maria recovery

Local soldiers are helping remove debris and clear routes for supply deliveries in Hurricane Maria-devastated Puerto Rico.

Soldiers from Rock Hill’s National Guard arrived in Puerto Rico last week to help with Hurricane Maria recovery. They could stay for as long as two months, military officials said.

Troops were told the mission could be 30-60 days, said Lt. Col. Cindi King, spokesperson for the National Guard.

South Carolina is sending about 150 Army National Guard soldiers from the 178th Combat Engineer Battalion in Rock Hill and another unit from Edgefield, King said. About half of the 150 are from armories in Rock Hill, Chester, Lancaster and Fort Mill, which are under the Rock Hill headquarters, King said.

Puerto Rico, a United States territory with almost 3.5 million American citizens, was devastated by the storm. The units were chosen because of their engineering expertise and experience in Iraq, Afghanistan, during the 2016 devastation of Hurricane Matthew and other missions, King said.

This story was originally published October 8, 2017 at 5:31 PM with the headline "Rock Hill soldiers help clear debris in Puerto Rico during Hurricane Maria recovery."