southerngale wrote:Hurricane Andrew wrote:Southerngale, have you tried passing that info on to a local EOC or 911 center? They have resources pre-staged; once the winds die down (usually 50mph is cap for water rescues), they will be deploying SWR/USAR teams en masse.
I don't know who to call. I tried 911 who said I had to call them locally and they gave me a number. I called that number and it was a recording saying to call 911 if I had an emergency.
These people on Zello seem to be on the ball, so I'm praying they get help. I'll keep trying, though.
Fair enough. Some of the guys probably have local contacts. I don't know what county you are referencing, but most counties have an Emergency Operations Center that is manned during storms. Local FD/EMS/PD will coordinate out of there. You
could try North Carolina DPS, and get a number for state EOC, but they might not have direct links to county assets at this time. As for the local 911 number, I assume they gave you the official nonemergency number, which probably isn't active right now if all the dispatchers are busy elsewhere.
I mean...I'm not on the ground there. My insight is limited to my own training and experience. I do know that disaster response will in the near term be run by local organizations (FDs in their district, etc), and in the long-term, most likely by FEMA and/or State DPS' Emergency Management. Rescues would fall under the former.
In all likelihood, they have gotten the information, and are just limited to staging assets until the winds come down. Hurricane force gusts will flip over a RHIB real quick.