NAVAL AIR STATION WHIDBEY ISLAND, Wash. – A Search and Rescue (SAR) team from Naval Air Station (NAS) Whidbey Island rescued three people caught in flood waters during a wind and rain storm impacting large swaths of Western Wash. November 15, 2021.
The SAR crew was originally notified about a car with two occupants that was half-submerged in flood waters on the the Skagit River near Marblemount shortly before 9 a.m. today. During the transit to that incident the crew learned that car’s occupants were rescued by other local first responders when they received another alert about a second submerged vehicle in the Cape Horn neighborhood.
Upon arrival the crew discovered the vehicle had two occupants that they helped move to higher ground. Prior to hoisting back aboard the Navy helicopter, the crewmembers learned of another individual near Rockport clinging to a tree in rising waters. After arriving at the scene and discovering the distressed man the crew deployed a crewmember to help assist the survivor. The man, who said he’d been in the water for a couple hours, was treated for exposure and handed over to medical personnel at Mears Field in Concrete.
Naval Air Station Whidbey Island SAR has conducted 49 missions this calendar year, which includes 11 MEDEVACs, 33 rescues, and five searches.
The Navy SAR unit operates three MH-60S helicopters from NAS Whidbey Island as search and rescue/medical evacuation (SAR/MEDEVAC) platforms for the EA-18G aircraft as well as other squadrons and personnel assigned to the installation. Pursuant to the National SAR Plan of the United States, the unit may also be used for civil SAR/MEDEVAC needs to the fullest extent practicable on a non-interference basis with primary military duties according to applicable national directives, plans, guidelines and agreements; specifically, the unit may launch in response to tasking by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (based on a Washington State Memorandum of Understanding) for inland missions, and/or tasking by the United States Coast Guard for all other aeronautical and maritime regions, when other assets are unavailable.
