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Members of Indiana Task Force 1 conduct secondary searches in Jefferson Parish LA assuring all residents are accounted healthy and have basic needs such as water.
Courtesy of Indiana Task Force 1Indiana Task Force 1 has been in New Orleans this week helping with Hurricane Ida relief efforts.
Forty-five members were deployed Aug. 27 to serve as an urban search and rescue team.
Chief Gerald George said the team has been helping with cleanup in Jefferson Parish in the greater New Orleans area, where residents are dealing with power outages.
“Because of everything that is closed because of no power, they have recently set up a distribution system in the mall parking lot,” George said. “We can see cars coming in by the droves now lining up to get food, water, fuel -- those kinds of things”.
According to the poweroutage.us.website, only about 35,000 of the 405,000 homes and businesses in the New Orleans and Jefferson Parish area had power Thursday morning.
George said the Indiana team is busy, but holding up well.
“We’ve been working in the high heat and humidity, but we have been trying to get the vehicles running, the bus running giving them places to take a break and stay hydrated as we work throughout the day,” George said.
George said the team expects to be reassigned to other locations to assist with additional missions.
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