Iowa National Guard travels to South Carolina to aid in Helene recovery

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – The Iowa National Guard is in North and South Carolina surveying the damage left behind from Helene.

They’re working to help bring resources to those in need.

“This truly is a class of its own,” said Jesse Ayala, Iowa National Guard flight engineer.

Ayala is Helene is now the deadliest hurricane to strike the US mainland since Katrina. Ayala said he’s seeing the devastation for the first time.

“From the air is one perspective and once we actually get down to one of the landing zones you get a completely different picture of what it looks like down there,” Ayala said.

One of the Iowa National Guard’s priorities is surveying areas to see just how bad the damage is. Because many roads and bridges are destroyed, Ayala said it’s hard for certain places to get aid.

He said their survey work is an important step in crossing that hurdle.

“With that information they’re able to send out different crews to be able to help and just spread some of the information with the lack of communication out there,” Ayala said.

Right now thousands of federal workers are deployed and helping with the recovery efforts. This comes after the Biden Administration signed a bill appropriating 20 billion dollars to FEMA.

Even with that money, there are concerns recovery efforts could fall short.

Ayala said part of his crew’s job is talking to people on the ground so responders know what they need to deliver.

“We send that information back up and we can utilize one of our smaller helicopters to deliver those items, whether it’s medical supplies, clothes, diapers. and anything of the like,” Ayala said.

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