The state is lending a helping hand to the people of storm-ravaged Kentucky.
Gov. Henry McMaster recently approved the South Carolina Emergency Management Department (SCEMD) to send operations support and logistics assistance to the Bluegrass State in response to recovery efforts following the devastating tornadoes there Dec. 10-11.
Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) officials from the area made the request for help soon after the tornado hit. EMAC is billed as a national emergency management mutual aid system that facilitates state-to-state disaster assistance.
“Team South Carolina is ready to provide any and all aid we can lend,” McMaster said in an office release. “We have relied on the people of Kentucky during some of South Carolina’s most difficultadded times. We are duty-bound to help a fellow state in need, and we’re going to help our friends who’ve been there for us when we needed them the most.”
SCEMD Chief of Operations Support and Logistics Guy Gierhart was officially deployed to Kentucky and is expected to coordinate disaster relief personnel and supplies coming into the state from all over the country.
“My first day at SCEMD was October 2, 2015, just as South Carolina was being severely impacted by the historic 1,000-year flood,” Gierhart said in the governor’s office release. “The people of Kentucky helped us then and during every disaster we’ve experienced since. Their official request came in; we wasted no time getting ready to go.”
In recent years, SCEMD has deployed staff to Alabama, Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Puerto Rico, and others places to assist in the aftermath of tornadoes, flooding, hurricanes, earthquakes, and even a volcano, according to SCEMD Director Kim Stenson.
“We are continuing this tradition of support by deploying personnel to Kentucky,” she said in the release. “I thank the emergency management personnel throughout South Carolina who have offered to assist. This is another example of the dedication of public safety employees in the Palmetto State to help those who are impacted by a disaster.”
