Relentless 2023 storms kept Coast Guard chopper crews busy
MONTEREY - With atmospheric river after atmospheric river hitting the region, it's been a busy year for the U.S. Coast Guard.
"The biggest hazard to us -- the aircraft flies perfectly fine in the rain -- it's a visibility restriction," said Lt. Joel Norton, a helicopter pilot.
Norton says along with search and rescue cases up and down the coast, he and other personnel have found themselves flying survey missions to monitor and assess areas that have flooded – from as far north as the Russian River, as far south as the Salinas River.
"We're also assisting and working with other agencies to survey and get a grasp of the extent and the progress of the flooding," Norton said.
He recalls a series of survey flights after some of the first atmospheric rivers of the season, which resulted in the Salinas River flooding in Monterey County.
"At times, there were areas of the river that were 300-500 feet wide," he said. "A lot of the farmland was submerged in certain sections – whole roads were swept out in certain areas."
Lt. Daniel Whitaker, another Coast Guard pilot, says the atmospheric rivers have created a mission set that has been slightly different than they'd normally see at this time of year.
"It kind of put everybody in a state of higher alert," he said. "When an atmospheric river comes through, it's like okay well this is a very different circumstance. The landscape is unsettled. People are experiencing a natural phenomenon that may not necessarily come through here so often."
Commander Kelly Higgins, the operations officer at the air station, says while they routinely train for the missions they've flown this year, they're working at a higher operational tempo this year.
"So for any major weather events – the atmospheric river – it's a little bit more complicated. We end up coordinating with local and state entities to put together a response plan," she said. "When things like this come up, everybody is kind of, on deck, to help out."
At one point at the beginning of the year when the atmospheric rivers struck hard, she says they increased the number of helicopters they have at the station.
"We actually sourced in other helicopters from all over the west coast from the Coast Guard to come here and respond to different events around the area," she said. "We beefed up our helicopters here from 7-11 to be able to respond."
"It was just like a huge feeling of support for the Bay Area, which was a really cool thing to experience," Whitaker said.
Norton hopes the public will be extra cognizant of taking safety seriously during intense weather events.
"When we have flooding that is imminent, mudslides, rockslides that could affect local areas – listen to local agencies and communities that are telling you to be heeding evacuation orders," he said. "As well as just on your personal watercraft to make sure that you have proper lifejackets, make sure your personal locator beacons and EPIRBS are registered, and make sure you have the required equipment. It's going to help us rescue you if you're in need, as well as make it safer for us when we need to respond."
