Pickens County, SC (Greenville News) - Two years after members of the Pickens County Emergency Management Water Response team rescued about 200 people from floodwaters of Hurricane Matthew, the team was at it again.
The men from the foothills rushed to the Pee Dee for Hurricane Florence, and before dawn Sunday they helped move 162 residents to safety during a flash flood caused by torrential rain in Mullins.
"They were fabulous then, and they are fabulous now," gushed Mullins Mayor Bo McMillan. "People in my town love the Pickens County team."
On Monday the team donned their bulky, full-body water suits again in muggy temperatures. Then they climbed into a motorized raft and a National Guard high-water truck to search a flooded road between Mullins and Nichols where a number of residents were rescued after Hurricane Matthew.
"We are being proactive for folks who may not have communication who have an opportunity to see us come floating by and have an opportunity to ask us for help if they want it," said Sgt. Robert Porter, the team's leader.
They didn't find anyone this time.
Authorities said almost everyone living in and around Nichols has evacuated after being warned that the approaching floodwaters from Hurricane Florence may be even deeper than Matthew's deluge.
The 10 members of the team that came back to the Pee Dee include deputies from the Pickens County Sheriff's Office as well as several active and retired firefighters from across the county.
Team member Eddie Talley, 59, of Easley, still recalls the nightmare that Nichols residents endured during the 2016 flood.
"I remember going to help a lady retrieve some personal items and a cat from her house, which was dry when she left," he said. "The trauma that she was experiencing to see three feet of water in her house was hard to watch."
McMillan said he wanted to take to members of the team out to dinner as a display of his town's gratitude for them. But they are leaving Tuesday to return to the Upstate after a one-week deployment that started in Sumter.
"I can promise that I'm going to drive to Pickens some time in the next three months and take them out for a meal at a restaurant of their choosing," McMillan said. "It will be our treat."
Follow Kirk Brown on Twitter @KirkBrown_AIM and email him at kirk.brown@independentmail.com
