By MARY BAILEY The Reporter

The Swiftwater/Flood Search and Rescue Team from North Alabama will be assisting with recovery efforts in South Carolina.Special to The Reporter

Hurricane Debby, which is now a Category I storm, is expecting to worsen conditions from northern Florida to the Carolinas potentially unleashing historic flooding.

So much so that the state of South Carolina has declared a State of Emergency.

Between now and Friday, what’s left of the storm could dump between 10 – 20 inches of rainfall and some isolated areas could see up to 30 inches.

Although thousands evacuated South Carolina, there were those that could not get out fast enough before the floods started to rise.

Hearing the call to action, the Swift Water Team deployed from Marshall County Monday evening, heading straight to the storm.

The 18-person team of first responders made it to their destination around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.

“The State of Alabama received an EMAC request from South Carolina requesting the Swift Water Teams to assist their state,” said Marshall County EMA Director, Blake Farmer.

“The State of Alabama’s EMA reached out to us, which we have one of the Alabama Mutual Aid System Teams. They asked us if we were available to respond and answer the request. So, we looked at the request, we could answer it so we sent an answer back to South Carolina and they accepted us.”

Farmer said the 18-member team is made up of first responders from all across north Alabama.

“The team left out Monday evening about 5 p.m. That team is made up of members from Guntersville Fire, Arab Fire, Cullman Fire, Madison Fire, Decatur Fire, Fort Payne Fire and one staff member from Marshall County EMA,” Farmer continued.

“Their orders were to report to Columbia, South Carolina where they arrived at about 4:30 Tuesday morning. Then at 7:30 a.m., they went to a briefing and then were being pushed forward into Dorchester, South Carolina, which is near Charleston.”

Farmer said the team will be assisting with anything flood or water related.

“It could be assisting people out of their houses, people that were not able to get out in time before the water started rising. The last I heard, as of last night they are talking about upwards of two feet of water, rain coming in. Plus, this morning you had high tide coming, plus storm surge plus the possibility of two foot of rain coming, so, there is going to be some flooding.

“We are there to assist getting people out,” Farmer continued.

“We do have some people that have been deployed and been on missions before, but we also have some new guys that are out there. This is what they train for, they practice for and exercise all the time for. They are ready to go. The support from the local jurisdictions and their county EMA’s is very valuable to these teams because without them they are not available to assist in other places.”

The team is scheduled to stay in South Carolina for 11 days, but depending on the issues they face, the trip could be shorter or longer.