Missoula County Crew Could Be Responding to Two Hurricanes

A crew of nine men and women from the Western Montana All Hazard Incident Management Team are in Georgia responding to damage from Hurricane Helene.

I spoke with Public Information Officer Nick Holloway on Monday morning about both Hurricane Helene and the incoming Hurricane Milton, due to make landfall in western Florida.

A Missoula Incident Management Team is in Georgia Helping with Hurricane Relief

“We're in southern Georgia right now in Wheeler and Jefferson Davis Counties, where we split our team up and we're supporting two counties,” began Holloway. “We are also monitoring what's going on with Hurricane Milton, and it is strengthening rapidly, so that's going to be a concern going forward, and for where we are, there certainly may be some impacts with rain and wind. We've already got a lot of storm damaged trees here in these counties, much like we did in Missoula after the wind storm in July, only on a much larger scale.”

Holloway provided a ‘boots on the ground’ view of the current situation in Georgia.

Holloway Said Over 60 Percent of Residents Now Have Power to Their Homes

“There are nine of us from Missoula County here, and we have been running a Point of Distribution, handing out food and MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) and tarps for roofs, and handing out ice and water as well. We've been working on power restoration. Up to 90 percent of the counties were without power at one time, but as of yesterday, 65 percent had had their power restored.”

Holloway said Hurricane Helene’s destructive power made the wind event in Missoula pale in comparison.

“It was very destructive, especially this far inland,” he said. “We've dealt with a few hurricanes in the past, and usually the further inland you get the less damage there is. Now, that may be also true here, but there's much more damage this far inland than I've ever seen before. There are big, large trees down all over the place. Just think Missoula and multiply that by that by 1000.”

This is the Second Time Missoula Crews Have Responded for Hurricane Relief

Holloway spoke about the friendships that have been made through the relief efforts.

“Those bonds we made in Northport, Florida were pretty strong bonds,” he said. “We still stay in touch with those folks, just to say hello fairly frequently; and that's why I think they asked for us, because they know us. Number one, they know what we can do, and number two, we're also making those bonds here in Jefferson Davis and Wheeler Counties. So we will get things done here and now, but we also have those relationships built for the future in case something comes up.”

Hurricane Helene was one of the most destructive storms ever to strike the southeast United States, and Hurricane Milton is now also barreling toward the Florida coast.

Holloway said there will soon be information from his office as to where Missoula County residents can send cash contributions to help the victims of Helene who have lost everything in the storm.