HARTFORD, Conn. — They traveled hundreds of miles to help people in need. People from Pennsylvania are helping in the flood recovery from Tropical Storm Henri.
We are talking about a group called Pennsylvania-Task Force 1 (PA-TF1), and they are in-and-around Hartford, Connecticut, Tuesday morning.
Emergency management in Connecticut prepared for Tropical Storm Henri. They started putting out calls for help last week, days before Henri whacked the mid-Atlantic and New England region.
Pennsylvania-Task Force 1 answered the call.
"This is our purpose; it is to show up and be able to provide that safety net for local responders," said Greg Rogalski, a member of PA-TF1.
Rogalski from PA-TF1 adds his group has the ability to travel to different parts of Connecticut and provide any help the locals need.
"We're in a position now to be able to respond to multiple areas, no matter what the conditions are, to be able to assist them, and at least they have some backup," added Rogalski.
This is the group's third big assignment in recent months. One of them involved a trip to south Florida to help look for bodies in the rubble of a collapsed building.
The team from Pennsylvania is sticking around in Connecticut for a while, even though the immediate threat is over. The task force could be back in Pennsylvania by the end of the week.
Another big assignment tackled by PA-TF1 was setting up field hospitals when the coronavirus outbreak hit the state last year.