Calhoun County Airport officials provide relief to hurricane victims

CALHOUN COUNTY, Fla. ( WMBB ) – Calhoun County airport officials stepped up to help provide relief to Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton victims.

Officials already flew a helicopter to North Carolina and eastern Tennessee to deliver supplies collected by the Mercury One charity.

“We went as far as Johnson City, Tennessee, and took patients, or evacuees, who needed to be moved out for medical conditions and were unable to get out due to either aircraft not being available, roads being gone, or just the massive devastation of that area,” Calhoun County Airport Manager Rob Sims said.

The storm destroyed nearly all methods of transportation in those areas. Calhoun County Airport manager Rob Sims says he thinks Helene’s damages are worse than Hurricane Michael.

“It’s worse there because of the inability to get to a lot of these communities in the areas that they’re in. The sheer destruction that happened with roads, railroads, bridges, all forms of transportation in and out of some of those areas are just gone and will be gone for months, if not maybe years to go in the future,” Sims said.

Sims said he’s now making plans to help those who will be impacted by Hurricane Milton.
It, too, is expected to be catastrophic.

“We’re pre-positioned here for Milton to see what happens when it comes ashore. I’m working with operator solutions. They have a task force guardian angel. We’ve set up an emergency operation center from the private side. We have multiple aviation assets and multiple ground assets that we’re putting together,” Sims said.

When asked why he’s doing this, Sims said it’s critical to support our neighbors.

“We definitely need to be cognizant of how we help our neighbors because they helped us, and I absolutely want to be there to help them with whatever they need. We will be there to do that,” Sims added.

To donate relief supplies through Mercury One, click here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to mypanhandle.com.