Help from Northern Virginia is heading to Jamaica to assist the Caribbean nation after Category 5 Hurricane Melissa made landfall this week.
Thirty-four members of the Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue team will be in Jamaica beginning Thursday helping officials there recover from the devastation.
County officials said they got the call Wednesday from the State Department and will be there for an undetermined amount of time aiding any way they can.
Fairfax County spokesman John Morrison told WTOP the devastation from the hurricane is devastating and there is an exceptional amount of need.
鈥淚t looks like that island suffered some catastrophic destruction. So, it’s a widespread need. They have many logistical challenges of roadways and power and communications equipment,鈥� Morrison said.
Dozens of people have died across the western Caribbean islands impacted by the storm and thousands are without power due to the widespread outages and dangerous conditions.
Morrison said the federal government is paying for all the expenses of the deployment and the county has more than adequate personnel, so it won鈥檛 be short聽staffed during the trip.
Plus, this gives county officials training for real-life situations when they鈥檙e needed here.
鈥淚t’s an honor to be able to represent our country, to go out and help people in their moment of need. I think it’s certainly some of the highlights of my career is being a part of this team,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e sort of used to dealing with natural disasters, whether it鈥檚 an earthquake or, in this case, a hurricane, so this is what we train for.鈥�
The Jamaican government said it鈥檚 hoping to reopen the island鈥檚 airports as early as Thursday to allow emergency supplies to enter the country.
Morrison said the county鈥檚 commitment is open-ended, with no set return date on the calendar.
鈥淲e will be working with the emergency management authorities on the island of Jamaica in order to be most effective, wherever they need us,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 what our team is made of. Whether it鈥檚 a domestic response or an international response, we鈥檙e honored to help out.”
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