US National Guard To Continue Hurricane Rescue Operations For Next 72 Hours - Army

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US National Guard to Continue Hurricane Rescue Operations for Next 72 Hours - Army

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st September, 2018) US National Guard officials in the state of North Carolina expect to continue rescuing victims of Hurricane Florence for at least another 72 hours, the Army news Service said in a press release.

"Army Lt. Col. Matt DeVivo, a North Carolina National Guard public affairs officer... said he expects the National Guard to continue operations for at least the next 72 hours, and possibly through the weekend," the release said on Thursday.

More than 3,400 National Guardsman from North Carolina and neighboring states remain engaged in rescue operations, the release said, as water levels continue to stay at dangerously high levels and in some areas have actually risen.

"We're not going anywhere anytime soon until we know the rivers have crested and the waters start to recede and communities can try to get back to some semblance of normalcy," DeVivo was quoted as saying in the release.

Army personnel have rescued a total of 372 residents and evacuated another 47 in both North and South Carolina, while more than 9,000 soldiers are supporting the hurricane relief efforts, the release noted. The US Coast Guard said earlier that it had rescued more than 1,100 people and more than 400 pets.

Hurricane Florence officially made landfall on the east coast of the United States in North Carolina last Friday. Florence originated from a strong tropical wave off the western African coast on August 30 and then gained hurricane strength.