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Air Station Cape Cod Crew Deploys to the Gulf Coast

NOAA

Coast Guard personnel from Air Station Cape Cod are helping with Hurricane Laura relief on the Gulf Coast.

Coast Guard Lt. Billy Martin told WCAI eight members of helicopter crews from Cape Cod flew to North Carolina on Tuesday night.

On Wednesday, they and other crews were scheduled to board a C-130 transport plane bound for Texas.

Martin said the goal is to help with search and rescue—and that’s not just on the open water.

“With the hurricane moving inland, we do some search-and-rescue operations picking people off of roofs and things like that — the stuff that was made famous in Katrina many years ago,” Martin said.

Martin said crews are trained in urban rescue to assist people trapped by flooding and will help in whatever capacity they can.

“Whatever the joint information center down there in New Orleans needs and wants us [to do] as a Coast Guard,” he explained. “We're going to be tasked out and do whatever needs to be done.”

He said they’ll be taking direction from a command center in New Orleans. No date has been set for their return.

Hurricane Laura came ashore in Louisiana early Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane.

Jennette Barnes is a reporter and producer. Named a Master Reporter by the New England Society of News Editors, she brings more than 20 years of news experience to CAI.