ST. LOUIS – As of 4:45 p.m. the Coast Guard has rescued two adult females from flood-affected areas in Lisbon, N.D.
An airboat crew from Station Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., accompanied by two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service airboats, a Coast Guard Disaster Assistance Response Team, and a smallboat from Coast Guard Cutter Scioto rescued a mother and daughter from their adjacent mobile homes when flood waters from the Sheyenne River began flowing between them.
The boat crews were conducting training in a flooded field approximately 7 miles northeast of Lisbon, N.D., when a man approached them notifying them of the two women in distress.
The Coast Guard airboat then rescued the women and transferred them to Ransom County sheriffs, who brought them safely to a shelter at Lisbon High School.
Due to current high-water conditions in the Sheyenne River and the expected high-water conditions in the Red River, the Coast Guard is working with various federal, state and local agencies in preparation of flood operations.
Coast Guard crews have been deployed to Emergency Operations Centers in North Dakota to coordinate response efforts with local and state officials.
Coast Guard assets responding are:
- A Disaster Assistance Response Team from Marine Safety Detatchment St. Paul, Minn., staged in Tower City, N.D.
- A DART from MSD Quad Cities in Rock Island, Ill., is staged in Enderlin, N.D.
- An MH-65C rescue helicopter and crew from Air Station New Orleans, staged in Fargo, N.D.
- An HH-65C rescue helicopter and crew from Air Station Traverse City, Mich., staged in Fargo N.D.
- An HH-65C rescue helicopter from Traverse City, Mich., is staged in Fargo, N.D.
- An HH-65C rescue helicopter from Air Station Detroit, Mich., is staged in Fargo, N.D.
- An airboat from Station Sault Sainte Marie, Mich., staged in Enderlin, N.D.
- An airboat from Station Saginaw, Mich., staged in Tower City, N.D.
- An airboat from Station Marblehead, Ohio., staged in Tower City, N.D.
- An airboat from Station Sturgeon Bay, Wis., staged in Fargo, N.D.
- A smallboat from the Coast Guard Cutter Scioto, staged in Enderlin, N.D.
- A smallboat from the Coast Guard Cutter Sangamon, staged in Tower City, N.D.
Each DART consists of three flat-bottom boats known as flood punts, capable of navigating in shallow flood waters and are accompanied by eight crewmembers trained in flood response.
