CA Crews Join Hurricane Harvey Rescue Operations

Additional statewide crews from California's Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces departed over the weekend to assist with Hurricane Harvey emergency operations, as pounding rains from the Texas storm caused mass flooding and at least six deaths.

The storm is expected to churn back into the Gulf of Mexico, move easterly toward Beaumont, TX, and the Louisiana border, and should move back ashore late Tuesday, officials said today. As many as 82,000 people in the Houston area and 300,000 statewide are still without electricity, and more power outages likely to occur when the rain resumes.

Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. on Sunday, at FEMA's request, approved the additional deployment of Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 2, 3, 6 and 7, from Menlo Park, Sacramento, Los Angeles County and Riverside fire departments, to the devastated portions of Texas, according to the State's Office of Emergency Services.

See Also: Harvey Still Expected To Cause More Damage

Brown on Friday and Saturday deployed crews from the Los Angeles, Oakland/Alameda County, Orange County, including Anaheim and the City of Orange, and San Diego fire departments, members of task forces 1, 4, 5 and 8, CAL OES said.

Crews deployed Sunday were part of the Water Rescue Mission Ready Package, California specialists in swiftwater and flood rescue, the office said.

The other teams are highly-specialized search and rescue units that can perform in heavy reinforced masonry structures, handle heavy rigging, specialized search functions and operate in swiftwater and flood environments, the agency said.

The deployment may last 14 days, OES said, and is coordinated through the Federal Emergency Management Agency as part of the national response. President Donald Trump is expected in Texas Tuesday to survey the devastation.

By Sunday afternoon, crews from task force 5 recorded more than 200 rescues, according to the Orange County Fire Authority. "Incredible work by the task force," the agency said.

Hurricane Harvey made landfall late Friday on the Gulf Coast. According to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Harvey was downgraded to a tropical storm due to a drop in wind speeds and storm intensity. Meanwhile, life-threatening and devastating flooding continues to be forecasted along the Texas coast due to heavy rainfall and storm surge.

Texas Governor Abbott declared a state of disaster for 30 Texas counties in anticipation of Harvey making landfall. Some areas are expecting up to 40 inches of rain by Wednesday or Thursday.

Since 1992, California-based Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces have been deployed to a long list of state, national, and international disasters including the 1992 Hurricane Iniki (Hawaii), the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing, 2001 World Trade Center and Pentagon Terrorist Attacks, Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti Earthquake of 2010 and the 2015 Nepal Earthquake.

RELATED COVERAGE:

• Riverside Fire Crews To Aid Hurricane Harvey Victims

• Hurricane Harvey Search And Rescue SoCal Teams Head To Texas

• Orange County Task Force 5: Images Of Harvey Rescue Teams At Work

-- PHOTOS: Courtesy of Alameda County Fire Department, two images of crews preparing for deployment; Oakland Firefighters and other agencies briefed prior to deploying to Texas with CA Task Force 4 Urban Search & Rescue. (Courtesy of Oakland Fire); Orange County Fire Authority photo of rescue crews; Two images of the CATF-2 Swiftwater Team deploying by David P. Carr, LACoFD Volunteer Photographer; Two images of supplies and crew from the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.

--Bryan Kirk (Patch Staff) contributed to this report