NY Air National Guard Rescues Hundreds Of Harvey Victims As Tri-State Volunteers Jump Into Action To Help
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Local resources, volunteers, emergency personnel and others continue to help with Harvey rescue and relief efforts in hard-hit areas of Texas.
Lifted over their homes, adults and children hold on to Guardsmen as they are brought inside to the safety of an overhead helicopter.
The emergency workers covered the children in blankets as they placed them in the arms of family members while taking a second to comfort a scared dog as they transport victims back to dry land.
"Our motto is that, 'Others May Live.' A lot of us sign up because that is the most important thing since our dream, our goal, is what we strive for," said Sr. Airman John Kosequat with the New York Air National Guard 106th Rescue Wing.
Views from their helicopter show the devastation as Harvey moved throughout southeast Texas and now Louisiana, where people are still in need of rescue six days after the storm first made landfall.
New Jersey and Connecticut have also sent members of the National Guard to Texas. Members of the FDNY and NYPD, local Red Cross volunteers and others are also on the ground as the support continues to pour in from our area.
A request from Texas hospitals has dozens of New Jersey doctors and nurses jumping in to volunteer to help combat the public health emergency.
Dozens of Jersey doctors and nurses volunteer and head to #HoustonFlood #1010wins pic.twitter.com/aYcMUVjewE
— glenn schuck (@glennschuck) August 31, 2017
They boarded planes at Teterboro Airport early Thursday morning.
Lacey Grundling, a nurse at Jersey Shore Medical Center, said they received an email from the New Jersey Hospital Association asking for volunteers.
"Devastating -- I just can't imagine," Grundling told 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck. "I live in Point Pleasant so when Hurricane Sandy hit, we all needed help so now my time to give back."
Many have arranged to stay in Texas and help for a week.
The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation will also have a team heading to Texas later Thursday to offer help to Harvey victims.
Many from around the country came to New York following 9/11 and Superstorm Sandy. That's why John Hodge, who is leading the team from the foundation to Texas, said "we just feel like there is a real debt that needs to be repaid."
"By Friday morning, we will be serving up meals for the folks at Lakewood Church in Houston," he told WCBS 880's Peter Haskell.
Tunnel to Towers is also collecting money and supplies. After Sandy, it raised $12 million.