Missouri Task Force 1 heading to St. Louis after heavy damage, fatalities reported after storms
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Eighty members of Missouri Task Force 1 are heading to St. Louis to help with storm damage recovery.
Boone County Fire Protection District Assistant Chief Gale Blomenkamp confirmed through text message that Task Force 1 will soon head out to St. Louis, which saw significant damage from storms.
St. Louis officials had confirmed during a press conference that at least five people were dead and more than 5,000 homes were damaged after severe storms hit the area on Friday.
Task Force 1 is based at the Boone County Fire Protection District Headquarters. The task force had been deployed within the state twice last month after flooding and tornadoes damaged a southeastern Missouri town and Pilot Grove in Cooper County.
Task Fore 1 later stated in a press release that members who are already based in the St. Louis region are on scene "conducting advanced area reconnaissance in the hardest-hit neighborhoods."
The remainder of the 80-person team, including a four-member the Disaster Situation Awareness and Reconnaissance team will leave Boone County by 10 p.m. and are expected to arrive by midnight.
"This deployment prioritizes search and rescue operations in North Saint Louis City, where the tornado caused the most severe damage. The advanced element will respond directly to the impacted zones, while the main body of the team will report to a designated City of Saint Louis Fire Department staging location," the release says.
Included in this deployment are six live-find K-9 units, four human remains detection K-9s, task force leadership and structural engineers and more than 100,000 pounds of equipment.
Ameren’s outage map shows a significant number of people without power in the St. Louis areas, with St. Louis County seeing 45,342 customers without power; St. Louis City having 40,103 and Jefferson County totaling 11,568.
Check back for updates.
