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Flooding sets a dramatic stage
Story by Capt. John Stamm, Indiana National Guard
INDIANAPOLIS
- It may not have been an overly detailed or dangerous mission, but
to 63-year-old Barbara Mortimore of
Wolcottville,
Ind.,
it was just as important as anything they could have done.
On
Thursday, February 7, 2008, a team of Indiana National Guard troops
from the 638th Aviation Support Battalion, headquartered in
Lafayette,
Ind.,
rescued Mrs. Mortimore and her five pets who were trapped in their
home due to weather conditions.
“I was in a
really disturbing situation,” Mrs. Mortimore said. “I was back there
all by myself and didn’t know how bad it was going to get.”
Mrs. Mortimore’s
residence is located about one-eighth mile off the main road. A
small pond, covering a quarter-acre of the front lawn, had flooded
due to recent rains and had completely encompassed the gravel
driveway leading to the house.
According to
rescuer Sgt. Ronald Gamble, the water was as deep as three feet in
some places.
The flooded
driveway had partially frozen over, making passage virtually
impossible by most civilian vehicles.
“She was
worried that she would be trapped,” said Ms. Pam Soule, Emergency
Management Director for LaGrange Country since 1999. “She called me
and I came out to assess the situation. I determined that we did not
have a vehicle that could do the job, so I called the State
Emergency
Operations
Center.
They called in the National Guard.”
The
nine-member team, and its three Medium Tactical Vehicle covered
trucks, arrived from
Lafayette
on Wednesday night and staged in
Elkhart.
They arrived on-scene at noon Thursday, in accordance with rescue
plans coordinated with Ms. Soule, and performed the extraction
flawlessly with no incidents and no casualties.
1st Lt.
Jason Doffin, who has been deployed to Afghanistan,
led the mission and claimed it was one of the most rewarding
experiences he’s had serving in the Indiana National Guard.
“It makes me
feel very proud because that’s what we do in the National Guard,” he
said. “We help those who can’t help themselves in situations like
this.”
“I cannot
express how grateful I am,” Mrs. Mortimore said. “It’s not everyday
the National Guard comes to rescue me.”
Mrs.
Mortimore, whose husband passed away last month, has decided to
relocate to a residence that will be easier for her to maintain.
She, Mia the cat and Tiger, a blind Shih Tzu, will be staying with
relatives until she sells her current home and settles into a new
one.
Two other cats,
Phoebe and Nikki, have been placed in a “no-kill” animal shelter in
hopes they will be adopted by a loving home that will be better
equipped to care for them than she will. Brandy, a deaf Shetland
sheepdog, has been put in a rescue program.
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