With sniffer dogs and hope, rescue teams fight Hurricane Michael Damage

MEXICO BEACH, Florida – As Hurricane Michael slowly revealed the victims of its deadly march, search and rescue teams crisscrossed wooded plots and a tiny beach on Saturday, going door-to-door in Florida Panhandle, destroyed by the storm.

They ran to reach the wounded, the dead and those in need of help, hoping to eliminate a long list of missing persons in Florida after one of the most violent thunderstorms from the history of the United States. The number of deaths is 18, but is expected to increase. CrowdSource Rescue, a group of Houston volunteers, said that he had located 754 people.

More than 1,700 search and rescue personnel work in the affected areas. Friday, Governor Rick Scott authorized the Florida National Guard to mobilize up to 3,500 soldiers and airmen to help with rescue efforts.

"We literally walk down those streets and knock on every door," said Scott Baxter, a member of Texas Task Force 1, an urban search and rescue unit. "It's our best hope to find someone who is injured or in need of help."

Under a flawless Florida sun, the teams searched for the tiniest traces of life, cutting through undergrowth, cleaning up debris, dragging themselves in grass infested with snakes.

On Saturday, in Mexico Beach, near where the hurricane landed, members of South Florida's research team, Miami's 2nd Research Team, went through a pile of ruins. Someone has felt something: a scent that veterans fear in the event of a disaster. One who suggests that a pile of rubble has become a grave.

The team is therefore put to work. First, Dexter, the 7 year old golden retriever trained to detect human life, rescuers hope to bark. Next came 6-year-old Luna Malinois from the US Border Patrol, trained in search of human remains, who rescuers hope to keep silent.

Luna climbed onto the roof pieces on the ground and in a puddle of sea water and wood debris. The officers waited.

She did not bark. The site was clear.

"It's not necessarily final," warned Captain Ignatius Carroll of the Miami Fire Department. "But it's the most important part here: the man remains a dog."

Rescuers went to the next house. Except in most cases, there was no house, only a concrete slab and the overwhelming debris of lives swept away by the sea. The place looked like the surface of the moon. Even experienced rescuers took photos on their iPhone as a sign of disbelief.

The team of 85 rescuers and four dogs arrived at dawn on Thursday. It was their last mission after hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria last year, the earthquake in Haiti in 2010 and the zero point after 9/11.

"At some point, you have to go from search and rescue to recovery, which is very difficult," said Joseph Zahralban, Miami Fire Chief, and noted that Mexico Beach remains a research and development mission. safety. For the workers, he said: "It's very moving. But they take care of it every day.

Their mission was complicated by the combined devastation of wind and storm, which brought entire homes to new addresses.

Before the storm, local police had gone door-to-door to name every resident who planned to ignore the evacuation orders and stay. In addition to their address and phone number, officers noted an additional detail: the next of kin of each family.

Twenty-four hours before the storm, 268 people and 10 children were planning to stay, said police chief Anthony Kelly. Then Hurricane Michael grew stronger and the number dropped "considerably lower," he added. But by then, it was too late to update his count.

Rescuers do not know how many of the 278 listed are counted. The Miami team devotes part of its efforts to calling each contact number listed by satellite phone, in addition to checking each residence.

The cleaned houses receive a green sticker. In some cases, the remaining structure has become so deformed by salt water that the sticker will not stick.

In the middle of Saturday afternoon, the team had evacuated four families and their four dogs – and drove them to Panama City as they did not have any other means of transportation. Two people required medical evacuations. Twenty people needed help to get out of their homes.

Chief Kelly said that he had told residents who had left that the city was not yet sure to return. Its streets – what's left of it – are hard to identify.

"It could take a year" to rebuild, he said. "It could take longer."

His own roof collapsed and he lost the back of his house. He had already experienced a similar tragedy before: in 2005, he lived in Biloxi during the Hurricane Katrina era. He and his wife spent two weeks after the storm sleeping on the front porch of their home. Now, after Michael, their porch here is gone too.

"I get phone calls, get information from family members trying to find loved ones here in town," he said. "We know each person in the majority of houses. We have a solid foundation. It is a very resistant city. "

About 30 miles north, 80 members of Texas Task Force 1 – including a 6-year-old malinois named Snape – headed north from St. Andrews Bay on Saturday morning to rural areas covered with a thick power line had hit the roofs of some houses.

Mainly firefighters, the team worked in a grid along the streets and houses blocked by broken trees, broken sheds and collapsed fences.

"We are facing extremely dense and damaged areas, and in some places we will have to make our way," said Chuck Jones, Chief Operating Officer. "The mission is to reach every structure."

The team surveyed about 50 square miles and reported the medical evacuation of a 90-year-old patient living in a home living in a house without electricity. No deaths or injuries were reported Saturday afternoon.

The day before, the team had reached 862 structures in Callaway, a suburb of Panama City. They visited apartment buildings, caravans and single-family homes – and spoke to 1,615 residents who confirmed their stay. Three other people were evacuated, including a woman who had broken her hip before the storm and a man who had only two days of insulin.

Eddie Mathison, a 21-year-old veteran and rescue manager whose son is a teammate, said one of the biggest challenges was the sick victims who were at risk of running out of drugs. "The longer it lasts, the more danger or risk there is for people in their home who have health problems," he said. "We are working to reach these people quickly."