Arizona FEMA search-and-rescue team back home from Hurricane Laura disaster relief

FEMA search-and-rescue team from Arizona heads to Louisiana for Hurricane Laura

PHOENIX - The FEMA Urban Search-and-Rescue Task Force Team from Arizona received orders Wednesday, Aug. 26, to head to Louisiana as it's expecting "unsurvivable" Hurricane Laura.

The National Hurricane Center said Laura slammed the coast with winds of 150 mph at 1 a.m. CDT on August 27 as a Category 4 hurricane near Cameron, a 400-person community about 30 miles east of the Texas border.

"Unsurvivable storm surge with large and destructive waves will cause catastrophic damage," forecasters warned. They said the storm surge could reach 15-20 feet in Port Arthur, Texas, and a stretch of Louisiana including Lake Charles, a city of 80,000 people on Lake Calcasieu.

Forecasters said Laura remained a Category 2 hurricane about six hours after making landfall, with sustained winds of 100 mph. Its center was moving north, about 20 miles north of Fort Polk, Louisiana. Damaging winds reached outward as far as 175 miles.

A search-and-rescue team of 45 members deployed Wednesday night, including search and rescue K-9's.

Courtesy of the Phoenix Fire Department

"The team will be utilized for urban search and water rescue needs in response to this powerful storm. AZ-TF1 Will be a fully self-sufficient team, that will be able to adapt to any needs that might arise or locations as the storm shifts," a news release from the Phoenix Fire Department read.

The team arrived back to Arizona Aug. 29.