Centre LifeLink Assists Rescue Efforts in Eastern Pa. Flooding

Search-and-rescue personnel from the State College area helped rescue residents and animals this week in flood-soaked eastern Pennsylvania.

Centre LifeLink EMS’ search-and-rescue team, CREST, was deployed late Wednesday afternoon to Lycoming County, where the eight-member crew assisted in specialty water rescue, according to a LifeLink news release.

The LifeLink personnel helped local fire companies that needed extra assistance. They focused in particular on flooded buildings.

‘The CREST crew mainly assisted with water rescue, and helped save the lives of 14 people, seven dogs and even a duck,’ the news release reads.

Said team member Tracy Reagan: ‘One of the neatest things we did was (to help) rescue two people who were trapped on the roof of their flooded house.’

She said that rescue involved assistance from a helicopter that lifted the two stranded residents. ‘We were responsible for rescuing anyone who might possibly fall from the rope (that led to the helicopter) in the process,’ Reagan said in the news release.

In addition, according to the release, the CREST crew helped evacuate special-needs and elderly residents who were taken by boat from their flooded high-rise building.

‘One rescued resident was hard of hearing and was unknowingly sleeping in a flooded house,’ the release reads.

The crew returned to State College after working more than 24 hours in water rescue. The group had received only four hours of sleep in the process, LifeLink noted.

Earlier coverage

• Local Ambulance Crews Return Home after Assisting N.J. Irene Response (Sept. 1, 2011)