Texas is saturated. Any rain only lays on top of the land. There is slow runoff and absolutely no drainage. It is very bad in Texas and getting worse.
Due to historic flooding in Texas (click here) that started the week of Oct. 7, Texas Task Force 1 was deployed to stand guard and protect those affected by the weather.
Texas Task Force 1 was founded in 1997 by the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service with members from across the state. Their training facility and headquarters are in College Station, but teams in each region of the state are gathered and deployed during dangerous weather events. Teams work closely with local authorities and jurisdictions to assist when needed.
Throughout its history, Texas Task Force 1 has been involved in a wide variety of rescues said Stephen Bjune, public information officer for Texas Task Force 1.
“We’ve done search and rescues for the state since 1997, ranging from tornadoes in the Valley, the Aggie Bonfire collapse, the Columbia shuttle, Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Ike [and] Harvey,” Bjune said. “We’ve responded all across the country.”
Randy Prestage, a Texas Task Force 1 squad leader with the Gainesville Fire Department, said his squad was activated the morning of Oct. 16 and drove from Gainesville to Llano as part of the western region package sent out to the flooding site.
“We’ve just been monitoring ongoing situations as far as rainfall, the river rise and falls, whether it be minor, moderate, significant flooding,” Prestage said. “We just have teams positioned throughout the bottom two-thirds of the state of Texas for assistance so we can go out and support the local jurisdictions.”
There are about 800 members on the task force, consisting of Texas Task Force 1 based out of College Station, Texas Task Force 2 from the Dallas-Fort Worth area and Texas Task Force 1 region 3 in south Texas....Where there is no fence at the USA southern border there is the Rio Grande River. (click here for interactive map by USA Today)
