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Missouri Task Force 1 back in Columbia after Kentucky tornado assignment

COLUMBIA., (KMIZ.)

Columbia-based urban search and rescue team Missouri Task Force 1 got back home a little after 2:30 p.m. Thursday after a multi-day mission to help with tornado response in hard-hit Kentucky.

Ellen McGarry, a member of the task force said it was heart-wrenching to see what the community has gone through.

"The things that are heart-wrenching for us is when you're doing a search and you find the child's toys, car seat, strollers.The furniture that you know is old and has been in their family yet it comes out of a shell of the structure. Those are the things that you remember and they get to you." McGarry said.

McGarry also said it was touching to see the community come together after losing so much in the tornado. Despite the devastation, McGarry says the community stood tall.

"We have a home to go back to and a job and these people don't. And it's going to be very difficult for them and we can't forget how much work they still have left to do." McGarry said.

"The team is in good spirits and proud to have been able to assist the citizens of Kentucky," the Boone County Fire Protection District wrote in a Facebook post. The team is based at the fire district headquarters.

This week the search and rescue team was sent to Mayfield, Kentucky, the town that took a hard hit by a tornado that killed more than 70 people in Kentucky.

Task Force 1 ran assessments on more than 1,600 structures while conducting wellness checks in Mayfield. The team helped clean up and search for survivors Task Force 1 uploaded its findings in a GPS system that helped form a map for local officials to use.

"We're able to lay that on maps and give people a visual uh perspective for that storm track and the damage from uh completely destroyed home and businesses to those that were lightly damaged or undamaged," Doug Westhoff, a task force leader, said.

You can donate to the victims of the storm at American Red Cross Disaster Relief.

Article Topic Follows: Boone

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Kennedy Miller

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