Two Bay Area-based Urban Search and Rescue Teams came back home Thursday night after spending nine days going toe to toe with Hurricane Florence in the Carolinas.
The storm has left 41 dead and over a billion-dollar destruction.
"Probably the hardest thing was seeing people’s lives disrupted," said Jason Fuller.
Fuller said helping in New Bern, North Carolina who dealt with the wrath of the hurricane is what they were trained to do.
"We were walking around with waist deep water with rain coming up from the bottom rain coming at 40 miles per hour," he said.
At the height of the storm, winds exceeded 90 miles per hour and now, the cleanup has only began.
"You got to be aware of hazardous stuff floating in the water," said Brian Ferreira from the Alameda County Fire Department. "Animals, snakes, oil, you got to figure out a way to get it done."
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The Search and Rescue Team did their part by bringing in nine vehicles and nine boats from the Bay Area to that region.
"For this deployment FEMA requested what’s called water ready package which means be prepared for swift water where people need rescue," said program coordinator Robert Lipp.
Despite the worst being over, the road to recovery for the Carolina’s are far from over.
"We go where we’re told and we were told to go home," said Fuller. "We’re back here to help our communities now we still have wildfires burning in California."
