A Virginia Beach water rescue team and two Hampton Roads charitable organizations are among the local groups heading to Central Texas to assist with rescue and relief efforts after flash floods claimed more than 80 lives.
Eight members of the Virginia Beach Fire Department’s Swift Water Rescue Team left Sunday evening and are expected to arrive Tuesday, said department spokeswoman Barbara Morrison. A similar team from Bristol, Virginia, will join them, Morrison said.
The Virginia Beach group is hauling a boat and a trailer full of equipment, including ropes and life vests, to help with search and rescue efforts. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Sunday that 41 people were still unaccounted for, and more could be missing.
More than two dozen staff members from the Portsmouth-based charitable organization Mercy Chefs arrived Saturday in Kerr County, Texas, and began working with volunteers to provide hot meals to survivors and first responders, according to spokesman Chaz Whitfield.
The team served about 600 meals the first day, Whitfield said, and about 2,000 the second. The first day’s offerings included Italian pasta, garlic breadsticks, Caesar salad, and pineapple cake with fresh berries.
“They’re (staff members) going to be there as long as there is a need,” Whitfield said. “We have no directive for an end date.”
Several members of the Virginia Beach-based Operation Blessing also arrived over the weekend, and are using a local church’s kitchen to prepare meals, spokesman Chris Roslan said. The team will also help with cleanup efforts and distribute relief supplies as long as needed, he said.
The flooding began overnight Thursday in the Texas Hill Country as the Guadalupe River rose more than 26 feet in less than an hour. The area is home to several youth camps, including Camp Mystic, an all-girl Christian summer camp. As of Monday, 27 campers and staff members had been reported dead and 11 others were still missing.
Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com