Colorado Rescue Crew On Its Way to Help With Hurricane Helene

Here in Colorado, we can get many different kinds of storms and natural disasters. Whether they’re hail storms, blizzards, or tornados, we’ve got quite a few that cover the vast array of weather phenomena.

Get our free mobile app

However, there’s one major storm that is basically a complete impossibility for Colorado; hurricanes.

The reason it’s essentially not even possible for hurricanes to come here is because we are way too far inland for hurricanes to even function.

The way they continue to keep their form is through drawing heat from the ocean, and the maximum distance a hurricane can travel is 100 to 200 miles inland.

Even with this being said, Colorado still is in the forefront of trying to help with hurricane research and relief.

Earlier this year, Colorado State University predicted an incredibly active hurricane season. It would seem that prediction is now coming true, with Hurricane Helene making landfall in Florida.

With the major concerns to safety, Colorado is sending some of its best to help with the situation.

Colorado Task Force 1 Deployed to Florida for Hurricane Helene

Located in Lakewood, Colorado Task Force 1 is a unit based in Lakewood that is specifically deployed for search and rescue missions in urban environments.

In many cases, if there is an event where one or multiple buildings collapse, they are there on the scene to try to look for and rescue people who are trapped in the rubble.

They have been deployed for multiple different hurricanes, tornados, and floods. They also had boots on the ground after the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9/11.

While Florida gets the most hurricanes in the entire country, Helene poses a severe threat to human life like few other hurricanes do. 

With that being said, CO-TF1 has been deployed to help with the efforts. They are one of 15 different search and rescue teams that is being sent to Florida.

How Bad is Hurricane Helene Predicted to Be?

At the moment, things are looking particularly bad.

Hurricane Helene has made landfall on the west part of Florida, and is currently a Category 3 hurricane. This classifies it as a major hurricane, and it has the potential of getting stronger. 

At some point this evening, it will make landfall on the Big Bend of Florida as a seriously intense hurricane.

The biggest concern at the moment, and why CO-TF1 is being deployed, is the possibility of a major storm surge.

At the moment, estimates are anywhere between 15 to 20 feet of storm surge. The higher end of this spectrum could prove to be devastating. 

For reference, the highest storm surge ever recorded in the US was 27.8 feet during Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Sandy, which devastated New York, had a storm surge close to 14 feet.