After floodwaters trapped hundreds in their homes in Kentucky, National Guard personnel flew in and airlifted them to safety — and they did it in a single day.
Airmen and soldiers with the state’s National Guard evacuated 296 people from a pair of housing complexes that had become mired by flooding in Martin County, Kentucky, according to an Air National Guard news release by Dale Greer. The first floors of both apartment buildings were flooded, forcing the occupants to gather on the second floor, Capt. Cody Stagner, a spokesperson with the Kentucky National Guard, told Task & Purpose.
The airlift came after flooding across the state closed down more than 300 roads, and claimed the lives of at least 14 people.
Flying in UH-60 Black Hawks from the Kentucky Army National Guard’s 63rd Theater Aviation Brigade, airmen with the state Air National Guard’s 123rd Special Tactics Squadron airlifted the residents and transported them to Big Sandy Regional Airport in Debord.
At the same time, members of the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Contingency Response Group processed evacuees at a passenger terminal they stood up on the spot. This is the same unit that, in just 18 days, helped process 11,000 refugees from 88 aircraft when they arrived in the U.S. after fleeing Afghanistan in 2021 during the Kabul airlift.
Overall, the flood response mission has involved National Guard personnel from three states — Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee — as well as support from first responders.
“This rescue mission added to the more than 1,000 Kentuckians who have been rescued by our Guard members and with the assistance of [Kentucky State People] and other local, state and federal partners,” said Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear in the news release. “We are so proud of all of you and so thankful these families are now safe.”
The Kentucky National Guard has roughly 170 soldiers and airmen involved in flood relief efforts, which began late last week. According to the Air Guard news release, there are 30 airmen from the Kentucky Air National Guard, 16 of whom belong to the 123rd Special Tactics Squadron, which focuses on search-and-rescue operations, and eight airmen belong to the 123rd Contingency Response Group, which specializes in airfield operations.
Guard units across the south are no strangers to flood relief missions. Guard units from at least six states responded to massive flooding from Hurricane Helene in September, including a Tennessee guard helicopter unit that rescued 50 from a flooded hospital.
Beyond the airlift, guard troops have responded to approximately 900 evacuation missions in response to flooding since Saturday, and the majority of those rescue efforts involved boats and high-axel vehicles, Stagner said.
Currently, Stagner said that “search and rescue are winding down and now we’re going to be doing more debris removal and restoring trafficability,” which involves removing things from the road, restoring or re-building damaged bridges, and “of course, checking on the community and transporting supplies back and forth to areas that are hard to get to.”
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