‘There to help’: Nevada task force returns home in wake of hurricanes

A Nevada group empowered to assist with hurricane response efforts as wind, rain and devastation whipped through southeastern states recently returned home.

Nevada Task Force 1, an Urban Search &Rescue team funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, recently deployed in two waves to assist residents in Florida, Tennessee and North Carolina left struggling in the wake of Hurricanes Milton and Helene.

Hurricane Helene was one of the deadliest storms in U.S. history, knocking out power and damaging homes across the Southeast. Hurricane Milton followed close behind, hitting Florida as a Category 3 storm, bringing with it high winds and claiming lives and homes.

A total of 81 people were deployed as part of Nevada Task Force 1, which has previously responded to events including Hurricane Katrina, the 9/11 attacks and the Oklahoma City bombing, according to Stacey Welling, public information manager for Clark County.

Responding to two back-to-back disasters is “a little bit out of the ordinary for us,” said Matthew Gordon, a team leader with Nevada Task Force 1 and battalion chief for Las Vegas Fire &Rescue.

Gordon said the team is “aware” that as climate change exacerbates conditions that allow storms to thrive, deployments could become longer and more frequent. But for a group made up of primarily first responders, the force is used to adapting on the fly.

“We’re just there to help people,” Gordon said.

Combating disinformation

Nevada Task Force 1 acts in a supporting role to local first responders, who lead recovery efforts. “They’re still in charge,” Gordon said.

While residents are generally appreciative to see the team touch down in their community, “sometimes there’s a little bit of animosity,” Gordon said. “People hear the word FEMA, and sometimes that is maybe not everybody’s favorite word.”

The federal agency has been the subject of disinformation brewing amid storm clouds and surges.

At a fundraiser in Southern Nevada for two Republican congressional candidates, House Speaker Mike Johnson said that FEMA “has been off-mission” by “helping to resettle illegal aliens.”

Gordon said that the task force is briefed on disinformation that residents may have heard.

“We don’t want to get caught off guard when we’re out there interacting with people and not be aware of what they’re feeling,” he said, adding that the team is usually able to disarm disinformation.

“We’re not there for any political purposes,” Gordon said. “We’re there really to just try and help them put the pieces back together.”

Damage caused by Milton, Helene

The extent of the damage caused by the two storms “really varied” among neighborhoods, Gordon said.

In North Carolina and Tennessee, “the damage was certainly devastating,” Gordon said. “But it’s interesting how you can step into another neighborhood that’s just a block or several blocks away, and it almost looks like nothing happened.”

In Florida, Gordon said the storm was “not as bad as it was anticipated to be or what it potentially could have been,” but that certain areas, particularly those close to the center of the storm, were “heavily devastated,” with significant water damage.

“I try and remind myself that even though it might not be the vast devastation that it could have been,” for someone who needs help with their home or business, Gordon said, “that devastation is complete and total and real.”

The team is prepared for water operations, enforcing collapsed buildings or conducting large area searches, Gordon said.

But often, at the end of the mission, members of the task force remember smaller moments, such as checking somebody’s blood pressure, delivering food or water or clearing a driveway. “Those kind of things tend to be some of the most meaningful,” Gordon said.

While the task force sometimes helps look for missing loved ones, in Tennessee, Gordon said his team was “mainly looking for remains at that point.”

But in Florida, most people had evacuated. Nowadays, Gordon said, “people are a little less willing to want to try and ride out the storm at home.”

Contact Estelle Atkinson at eatkinson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @estellelilym on X and @estelleatkinsonreports on Instagram.