PORT ANGELES – A week ago today, they were navigating their HH-65 Dolphin helicopters by the tops of buildings made unfamiliar by raging flood waters, and watching for points of light.
“The first thing we noticed was lights in the water,” said Petty Officer Mike O’Leary of Coast Guard Group/Air Station Port Angeles.
“People were signaling to us with flashlights.”
O’Leary was part of one of the helicopter crews from the Port Angeles station which rescued flood victims in the Chehalis area and south of Hood Canal and the Belfair and Olympia areas early last week.
The crew that O’Leary served with left at 1 p.m. last Monday to fly 155 miles south to flooded Chehalis in Lewis County, where it rescued at least 19 people from buildings in a muddy ravine.
Another crew, which left at 8 p.m. that day, plucked people from the Chehalis-Centralia Airport after it had flooded.
Other crews also flew out to rescue those in need.
“This is what we trained for,” said Lt. j.g. Christian Polyack, copilot of a crew piloted by Lt. Justin Hunt.
The crews’ training over water at night was useful on this mission because there were no references except for buildings, Polyack said.
Said Hunt, “It was kind of scary flying down, because you don’t know where all the wires are.”
Their night vision goggles made spotting people’s flashlights in the dark much easier, Hunt said.
