The summer of 2017 ended in a wave of destruction with deadly hurricanes wreaking havoc on the United States. Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, two record-breaking storms, brought catastrophic damage to the coastal United States and U.S. Territories in the Caribbean.
Over 40,000 Army National Guard Soldiers were deployed to assist in relief efforts, including evacuation, search, rescue and recovery missions. With just days between Harvey and Irma’s landfall, Soldiers of the National Guard proved, once again, that when disaster strikes they are Always Ready, Always There.
130-mph winds. Over 51 inches of rain. More than 80 confirmed fatalities. These are the numbers that characterized Hurricane Harvey, a catastrophic tropical cyclone that made landfall in Texas on Aug. 26, 2017. Along with those devastating numbers was another figure: 24,000. That is the number of National Guard Soldiers who deployed in response to Hurricane Harvey to carry out relief efforts.
This number includes the entire Texas National Guard force – of approximately 12,000 Soldiers – that Texas Governor Greg Abbott activated to assist with search, rescue and recovery efforts along the Gulf Coast. COL Steven Metze, public affairs officer for the Texas Military Department, said they had not deployed this many people since World War I.
Other states that deployed Soldiers in response to the deadly hurricane were: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah
and Virginia.
Harvey made landfall near Rockport, Texas, as a Category 4 hurricane and became the most powerful storm to hit the mainland United States in over a decade. Harvey also set a new record for the heaviest rainfall from a hurricane or tropical storm in the continental United States. After making landfall in Texas, Harvey continued on its destructive path, tearing into southern States for almost a week.
