NC SBI deploys K-9 teams to Texas to continue search and recovery of flood victims

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — North Carolina is continuing to help those impacted by the ravaging Tropical Storm Barry downpour that caused significant flooding in southern Texas.

The NC State Bureau of Investigation reported Sunday that they are sending agents from central and western North Carolina to Kerr County in Texas to help in the recovery efforts caused by the storms.

NC SBI sent four K-9 teams to the Hill Country of Texas — which includes Kerr County, an area devastated by the storm’s flooding.

Photos shared with CBS 17 from NC SBI show K-9s Vegas and Lola boarding a plane at RDU just before takeoff Sunday morning.

In a social media post from NC SBI, agent John Taylor, an agent in charge of the recovery mission, said that there are five personnel teams with four K-9 teams heading to Texas on Sunday morning.

“We got two flying out of Asheville this morning, two flying out of Raleigh this morning, going to Kerr County, Texas,” Taylor said in the video.

An official with NC SBI said their agency’s director reached out to Texas to offer assistance.

“North Carolina has been devastated by hurricanes and other natural disasters in the past, and our friends from many other states have always come to our aid,” NC SBI Director Chip Hawley said. “Now it’s our time to step up and help them out. It’s the right thing to do.”

During their recovery assistance, NC SBI will have teams based in the Kerrville area.

This comes as the Nash County Sheriff’s Office’s deputy Jack Thorpe and K-9 Fiji returned home last week from their recovery efforts.

The duo was deployed to Texas for 10 days.