The death toll climbed to 94 as of Monday, with 22 people unaccounted for, according to the Associated Press. Torrential rain and multiple delays due to inclement weather have hampered recovery efforts as crews work through the rubble to find remains.
“It’s slow backbreaking work,” Jeff Lykins, Ohio Task Force 1 chief and chief of the Dayton Fire Department, said before the team left its base in Vandalia. “Obviously there’s all kind of dangers working on the pile with shifting debris and further collapse potential so it’s a slow tedious process,” he said. “We’re not a surprised that they’re going to be rotating crews through.”
Team members come from both the private and public sectors and include career and part-time fire personnel, law enforcement officers, emergency medical and hospital personnel, structural engineers and other professionals, Lykins said.
Recent deployments include last year following Hurricane Laura and in 2019 for the Memorial Day tornadoes in the Miami Valley and Hurricane Dorian, according to the task force’s Facebook page.
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