As the waters rise, we wait

Photo By Master Sgt. Andrea Rhode | South Carolina National Guard Soldiers from the 678th Air Defense Artillery Brigade and the 218th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade work together to unroll an aqua dam on Highway 17 in Georgetown, South Carolina on Sept. 25, 2018. Approximately 2,000 South Carolina National Guard Soldiers and Airmen are currently on duty to support local authorities in response and recovery operations to the ongoing flooding that followed Hurricane Florence's landfall. National Guard Soldiers and Airmen from Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Maryland, New York, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin are also supporting the South Carolina National Guard recovery efforts. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Andrea F. Rhode)  

GEORGETOWN, SC, UNITED STATES

09.26.2018

Story by Staff Sgt. Andrea Rhode  

108th Public Affairs Detachment

The flood is coming. It’s posted everywhere. The news anchors are talking about it. Our leadership is bringing it up daily. Even the locals were checking up on each other as we sat and ate dinner last night.

The flood waters coming into Georgetown, South Carolina are predicted to be epic. Horrible, home destroying waters are expected to start creeping up along the shorelines at any minute. Even our Soldiers are sleeping by the water, prepared to load onto their boats to perform rescues and transport emergency vehicles across the vast water with little-to-no notice. The second the waters rise, they’ll spring into action. This is what they've trained for. This is what they spend all year preparing for -- a real-world mission.

The South Carolina National Guard and numerous Soldiers and Airmen from across the country who have come to support the locals are ready. They’ve been preparing since the onset of Hurricane Florence. The service members have built miles upon miles upon miles of water barriers. They’ve worked hard in the beating sunshine, perspiration settling on their faces and sweat dripping down their backs. Their smiles have turned to facial expressions of pure exhaustion. But, they’re ready. They’re ready to watch the work they’ve put in pay off. They’re ready to drive down the very roads they’ve worked hard to keep open. They are ready to do whatever they need to in order to protect the citizens of South Carolina.

No one really knows how bad this is going to get.

The prep work is done.

Now we wait.

We wait to see how bad it’s going to get, and we pray we overestimated the amount of water that will soon fill the streets we’re currently walking on.

• Date Taken: 09.26.2018
• Date Posted: 09.26.2018 15:23
• Story ID: 294505
• Location: GEORGETOWN, SC, US
• Hometown: GEORGETOWN, SC, US