Last Friday, Governor Greg Abbott deployed Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) personnel to South Carolina to support Hurricane Helene recovery efforts, following a request from the South Carolina Emergency Management Division.
“As states in the Southeast continue to pick up the pieces following Hurricane Helene, Texas will continue to answer the call to help our fellow Americans recover and rebuild,” said Governor Abbott. “The State of Texas is deploying Texas Parks and Wildlife Department personnel to assist South Carolina in clearing storm debris caused by Hurricane Helene. Cecilia and I continue to pray for the all the impacted families across the country as they begin to move forward from this devastating hurricane.”
Following a request from the South Carolina Emergency Management Division, the Governor directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to deploy Texas state parks staff from TPWD to help clear South Carolina’s state parks of storm debris and damage caused by Hurricane Helene.
This deployment of resources is coordinated under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC). EMAC is a state-to-state mutual aid system that enables states to provide assistance and share resources with another state in response to a disaster or emergency.
EMAC members can share resources from all disciplines, protect personnel who deploy, and be reimbursed for mission-related costs.
According to a press release, Texas continues to support hurricane response and recovery efforts across the southeastern United States, including:
• Deploying state law enforcement personnel and military aircraft to Florida ahead of Hurricane Milton and disaster recovery personnel to North Carolina to support Hurricane Helene recovery
• Deploying all hazards incident management team personnel to Florida ahead of Hurricane Milton
• Deploying emergency response resources to Florida to support Hurricane Milton response and disaster recovery resources to Tennessee to support Hurricane Helene recovery
• Deploying Incident Support Task Force personnel to North Carolina to assist state and local emergency operations centers communities impacted by Hurricane Helene
• Deploying emergency veterinary resources to North Carolina to support Hurricane Helene response and recovery efforts
• Deploying emergency power generators to Georgia following Hurricane Helene
• Deploying Texas A&M Task Force 1 urban search and rescue resources to Florida ahead of storm impacts from Hurricane Helene
