Missouri Task Force 1 returns from southeast Missouri
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Missouri Task Force 1 returned safely to Columbia Sunday, after a four-day deployment to Southeast Missouri.
The team arrived back at the Boone County Fire Protection District Headquarters around 2:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon. Family members greeted the team with gratitude, as they reunited following days of intense rescue operations in hazardous weather.
Task Force Leader Randy Sanders told ABC 17 News the conditions were challenging from the start.
"It was rough for a while there because it rained and stormed so much," said Sanders. "We had to take shelter a few times for tornado warnings."
The team was deployed Thursday to assist in areas overwhelmed by rising floodwaters. During their mission, MO-TF1 responded to two water rescue incidents.
The first occurred around 9:30 p.m. Saturday when the Missouri State Highway Patrol requested assistance with a medical emergency. A woman stranded in her flooded home needed immediate help.
The Highway Patrol initiated the rescue, but due to complications with their boat, MO-TF1 stepped in.
"We got another call for a woman that needed to be removed from her house. She had some medical issues. The highway patrol started that rescue, but they had difficulties with their boat, so we supported them... helped them get back out with that young lady and then we got them all back to the safe place with an ambulance," Sanders said.
The second rescue took place early Sunday morning around 1:30 a.m. Two men became trapped in a pickup truck surrounded by floodwaters. The task force first sent in a high-water vehicle, but it became stuck during the return. Rescue teams deployed two boats and reached both the trapped individuals and the immobilized vehicle, bringing everyone to safety.
"There was two gentleman in the back of a vehicle in a pickup truck. So, we had to go out into the water with high water vehicles. High water vehicle slid off the side of the road and we had to go out with boats and rescue those people," Sanders said.
Once the men were safe, the team returned with another high-water vehicle to recover the 28,000-pound unit from the roadside.
As MO-TF1 departed Southeast Missouri, Sanders said the area was still in dire need of drying out.
"It was just barely raining when we left," Sanders said. "So, those people need it to dry out a little. They've had enough water. They're tired of it like the rest of us."
The deployment marked the task force's first in-state deployment since 2019 in Jefferson City.
