Local task force returning from Texas
The Lincoln Fire Department’s Urban Search and Rescue Task Force, which was deployed to San Antonio earlier this week in anticipation of Hurricane Dolly, was getting ready to return to Lincoln Friday morning.
Despite bringing 100 mph winds and dumping more than a foot of rain in some areas, Dolly did not leave enough structural damage to require the help of Lincoln’s 34-member task force, said Lincoln Deputy Fire Chief Dean Staberg.
“We were there standing by, and if something had occurred we’d have been able to get in there quickly,” he said.
The task force, which is made up of firefighters, drivers and canine handlers, is expected to reach Nebraska late Saturday afternoon, Staberg said.
Dolly was downgraded to a tropical depression by Thursday afternoon, and the storm was expected to break up by Friday.
It left behind more than a foot of rain in some areas and broke all-time July rainfall records in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
But with Dolly long gone, 159,000 people in the region were still without power at 9 p.m. Thursday, according to Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s office. The figure was down from 228,000 earlier in the day.
The National Weather Service said the remnants of Dolly, which washed ashore as a Category 2 hurricane, could still add a few inches of rain to some areas. Downed power lines remained the greatest danger. One person in Matamoros, Mexico, died from electrocution after walking past a power line on the ground.
Fallen billboards and business signs still littered the streets, but residents were out and about after hunkering down for most of Wednesday. As the sun peeked through dark clouds, people began cleaning up and expressed relief that the storm didn’t take many lives.
“We’re all OK,” said Hilario Cruz as he chopped up a felled tree that just missed his pickup truck in Harlingen, Texas. “We covered the windows. The water was up to our knees yesterday.”
There will be substantial cleanup: President Bush declared 15 counties in south Texas a disaster area to release federal funding to them, and insurance estimators put the losses at $750 million.
Reach Hilary Kindschuh at 473-7120 or hkindschuh@journalstar.com. The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Despite bringing 100 mph winds and dumping more than a foot of rain in some areas, Dolly did not leave enough structural damage to require the help of Lincoln’s 34-member task force, said Lincoln Deputy Fire Chief Dean Staberg.
“We were there standing by, and if something had occurred we’d have been able to get in there quickly,” he said.
The task force, which is made up of firefighters, drivers and canine handlers, is expected to reach Nebraska late Saturday afternoon, Staberg said.
Dolly was downgraded to a tropical depression by Thursday afternoon, and the storm was expected to break up by Friday.
It left behind more than a foot of rain in some areas and broke all-time July rainfall records in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
But with Dolly long gone, 159,000 people in the region were still without power at 9 p.m. Thursday, according to Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s office. The figure was down from 228,000 earlier in the day.
The National Weather Service said the remnants of Dolly, which washed ashore as a Category 2 hurricane, could still add a few inches of rain to some areas. Downed power lines remained the greatest danger. One person in Matamoros, Mexico, died from electrocution after walking past a power line on the ground.
Fallen billboards and business signs still littered the streets, but residents were out and about after hunkering down for most of Wednesday. As the sun peeked through dark clouds, people began cleaning up and expressed relief that the storm didn’t take many lives.
“We’re all OK,” said Hilario Cruz as he chopped up a felled tree that just missed his pickup truck in Harlingen, Texas. “We covered the windows. The water was up to our knees yesterday.”
There will be substantial cleanup: President Bush declared 15 counties in south Texas a disaster area to release federal funding to them, and insurance estimators put the losses at $750 million.
Reach Hilary Kindschuh at 473-7120 or hkindschuh@journalstar.com. The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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