Rock Hill-based National Guard troops activated for flood assistance

With York, Chester and Lancaster counties being spared from the rain and flooding that have devastated the Midlands and Lowcountry, emergency resources from this area have deployed to parts of the state that took direct hits from the deadly weather.

Combat engineer units from the Rock Hill-based National Guard battalion, many who are part of the unit’s firefighter and rescue teams, responded to the Colombia area Sunday where guardsmen were part of two water rescues and helped dozens of other people who had to be evacuated, said Maj. Tom Meares, executive officer for the battalion. Several other guardsmen from the 178th along with water pumping equipment and vehicles were dispatched to help Columbia hospitals with water needs after water service was interrupted, Meares said.

“The soldiers are ready to do whatever needs to be done to help in the recovery effort,” said Meares said. “This is what the guard does - help people when they need it.”

The 178th, which has sent hundreds of soldiers to wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo and other deployments, has armories in Rock Hill, Fort Mill, Chester and Lancaster with about 800 soldiers activated and ready to be sent out. Equipment and dozens of vehicles were prepared Sunday night and Monday to be sent out across the state.

The battalion has two companies for debris clearance and two companies for evacuations that can use vehicles with high-water clearance that the guard has, Meares said.

The Lancaster armory sent about 50 soldiers to Vermont in 2011 to aid in flood recovery. Dozens of soldiers in Lancaster readied Monday in preparation for what is expected to be several days of cleanup in hard-hit areas of the state, as did soldiers in Fort Mill and Chester. A few 178th soldiers in the lower part of the state are already part of a reconnaissance effort for road and bridge damage but the bulk of the soldiers will be tasked with other duties including damage assessment and other tasks, said Lt. Col. Kevin Berry, commander of the 178th Combat Engineer Battalion.

Top officers and unit commanders coordinated battalion response from the Rock Hill armory’s emergency operations center Sunday and Monday. 178th soldiers also were working out of emergency operations centers across the state to coordinate response, said Maj. Nick Amico, operations officer for the 178th battalion. Those guardsmen can see what individual counties and regions need and then coordinate the need with resources that the 178th can deliver, Amico said.

More than 1,300 guardsmen statewide have been activated. Soldiers are being deployed all around the state’s affected areas, said Lt. Col. Cindi King, spokesperson for the S.C. National Guard.

Other responders

Other non-military emergency resources and personnel from this area have also been sent to assist in the recovery.

The Rock Hill Fire Department sent four firefighters who are certified in swift-water rescue and a boat to Columbia on Sunday.

“I talked to them this morning,” Deputy Chief Mark Simmons said Monday. “They were going to be deployed with one of the fire stations.”

Simmons said the department has about 25 firefighters certified in swift-water rescue. The S.C. Firefighter Mobilization requested four rescuers from Rock Hill for 24 hours, but Simmons said the mobilization may ask for another crew after those four return.

Chuck Haynes, director of York County Emergency Management, and deputy director Mike Channell left Sunday to assist Clarendon County. Haynes said the S.C. Emergency Management Division reached out to counties that suffered “less of an impact” from the storm and asked them to send resources to assist the flood-stricken parts of the state.

“We were supposed to get a lot of this, and the storm started going south,” Haynes said Monday afternoon, going on more than 24 hours without sleep. “We were spared. We know that if we were hit, our neighbors would come to help us, so that’s why we try not to turn down requests for help.”

Clarendon County on Monday was marred with power outages and road closures due to the rain and flooding, which shut down a portion of Interstate 95, Haynes said. Close to 275 people were in emergency shelters.

“We are continuing to make rescues where water rises in different locations,” he said. “Our job here is to save as many lives as possible and get Clarendon County back to normal as soon as possible. The day they’re back to normal is a long ways from now.”

Lancaster County Fire Marshal Stephen Blackwelder said Monday that the county sent resources to Kershaw County.

“We were basically unaffected by the storm,” he said. “We have deployed some resources there over the weekend to assist in some water rescues. We still have some assets there.”

Ed Darby, emergency planner for Chester County, said they’ve extended an offer of resources to the Columbia area.

“We haven’t gotten anything back from them,” he said. “Columbia’s going to be recovering for a while.”

Teddy Kulmala contributed

This story was originally published October 5, 2015 at 11:16 AM with the headline "Rock Hill-based National Guard troops activated for flood assistance."