Chartered Planes, Rescue Trucks, And A Blackhawk

Hurricane Harvey, a Category 4 storm with peak wind velocity of 130 miles per hour, made landfall near Rockport, Texas, on August 25, 2017, resulting in devastation and torrential rainfall in Southeast Texas. The Houston area experienced more than 51 inches of rain and catastrophic flooding. Many hospitals in the path of Harvey became inaccessible as roads and airports were closed. The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) located on Galveston Island, 50 miles southeast of Houston, became isolated with no ground access. On August 28, a chartered plane carrying a shipment of blood from Indiana Blood Center (see figure, left, Nick Brown from Indiana Blood Center delivering blood to chartered aircraft; photo courtesy of IBC) was able to land at Galveston’s small airport. However, the following day, the chartered flight was diverted to a nearby county due to dangerous winds and flooding. The shipment of 175 units of red blood cells and platelets was unloaded and brought by an Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting (ARFF) vehicle to an Emergency Medical Corps truck (see figure, middle; photo courtesy of Andrea Anderson), which delivered the blood to UTMB Angleton-Danbury Hospital. Multiple attempts were made to transport the blood to Galveston using ground transport, military vehicles, and rescue trucks, but all attempts were aborted as the roads were deemed impassable due to flooding. Thanks to the U.S. Army National Guard, a Blackhawk UH-60 came to our rescue (see figure, right, U.S. Army National Guard Blackhawk UH-60 transporting blood to UTMB; photo courtesy of Katrina Lambrecht). The Blackhawk was tasked by the 108th Assault Helicopter Battalion from Austin with the aircraft and crew from the Nebraska Army National Guard. Five hundred pounds of lifesaving cargo was transported by Blackhawk to the UTMB main campus 40 miles away.