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Harvey (Day 5): Ohio Task Force 1 remains in Houston area

UPDATE @ 4:40 a.m. (Aug. 29): Ohio Task Force 1 and Gabrielle Enright remain in Houston while waiting for their next assignment.

RELATED: Harvey: Ohio Task Force 1 trucks navigate high water to evacuate nursing home

UPDATE @ 9 p.m. (Aug. 28): Ohio Task Force 1 remains in the Houston area, assigned to perform water rescues.

More than 1,000 people have been rescued in the last eight hours as water levels continue to rise because Tropical Storm Harvey is lingering over southeast Texas.

UPDATE @ 10:50 a.m. (Aug. 28)

Ohio Task Force 1 will head to the southern part of Houston to perform boat rescues, after the Houston area received over 30 inches of rain from Hurricane Harvey.

MORE: Photos: Hurricane Harvey causes widespread damage

The task force has been given a window until around noon Central Time before water will be released from a levy or dam.

News Center 7’s Gabrielle Enright remains with Ohio Task Force 1 in Texas, and we’ll continue to update this page as we learn more.

UPDATE @ 6:20 p.m. (Aug. 27)

Ohio Task Force 1 is in Katy, outside Houston, ready to operate water rescue missions. The Houston area has been deluged by ‘unprecedented flooding” from torrential rains from Tropical Storm Harvey.

Rainfall totals are approaching 20 inches, recorded at the Houston Intercontinental Airport, according to the Weather Prediction Center.

UPDATE @ 1:21 p.m.Ohio Task Force 1 has been given a new destination -- Katy, Texas, outside Houston.

>> Listen to WHIO Radio on AM 1290 and News 95.7 for LIVE coverage of the active situation in Texas.

UPDATE @ 1:05 p.m.

Ohio Task Force 1 will soon be leaving the Texas town of Tivoli and head for San Antonio to stage.

“We are seeing lines of medics and charter buses headed to Houston,” WHIO-TV’s Gabrielle Enright reports, along with videographer Chuck Hamlin.

UPDATE @ 11:05 a.m. 

Ohio Task Force 1, in the small southeast Texas town of Tivoli, helped “rescue” a fire truck trapped when the firehouse collapsed.

There were no injuries resulting from the collapse as the team was able to help the fire crew get their fire engine back in service.

There have been no reports of people in the town being trapped.

UPDATE @ 10:05 a.m. (Aug. 27) DAY 3: Ohio Task Force 1 spent the night in Robstown, Texas, and now is in the area of Tivoli, a short distance from the San Antonio Bay and southeast of Victoria.

In Tivoli, task force members are assessing damage and sending information to FEMA to help determine if the town should receive federal help and funding.

The town of roughly 400 people, northeast of Corpus Christi and southwest of Houston, takes its name from the town of Tivoli in the Lazio region of central Italy.

Meantime, Ohio Task Force 1 members are anticipating they will be moved to the Houston area.

In an effort to meet up with the task force, WHIO-TV's Gabrielle Enright and Videographer Chuck Hamlin are staging between where the task force is now and where they will go.

Enright and Hamlin will provide with you with updates, video and more as they move forward.

UPDATE @ 12:15 a.m. (Aug. 27)

Ohio Task Force 1 arrived Saturday night in Robstown, Texas, about 30 miles from Corpus Christi.

The urban search and rescue team expects to be put to work today assisting local resources. Ohio Task Force 1 was deployed to Robstown along with Texas Task Force 1 and Missouri Task Force 1.

UPDATE @ 6:20 p.m. (Aug. 26) DAY 2

Ohio Task Force 1 has been deployed and is headed to Robstown, Texas, not far from Corpus Christi.

Teams there requested support in the wake of Hurricane Harvey’s landfall and subsequent torrential rains as it stalls in the region as a tropical storm, News Center 7’s Gabrielle Enright said. She and videographer Chuck Hamlin are traveling with the task force.

Ohio Task Force 1 and Missouri Task Force 1 are leaving from San Antonio, and will meet up with Texas Task Force 1 in Robstown.

Support efforts are expected to begin and first light.

EARLIER (Aug. 26)

Ohio Task Force 1 learned during a conference call today that they will remain on standby to assist with any search and rescue missions, however at this point they have not received any missions from FEMA.

News Center 7’s Gabrielle Enright and videographer Chuck Hamlin are traveling with the group as they prepare for possible search and rescue missions related to Hurricane Harvey.

DAY 1: Ohio Task Force 1 leaves Dayton for Texas

So far, the task force is being held primarily for flooding concerns. While there are a lot of damage reports coming in, Texas resources have been able to handle them.

The task force arrived in San Antonio early Saturday morning and many of the crew were finally able to get some rest around 4:45 a.m. when they slept on cots at the AT&T Center.

MAP: Ohio Task Force One Location

The team is continuing to have regular meetings and are creating tactical plan should they be called for a mission.

The drive from Dayton to San Antonio is approximately 18 hours.

This news organization was the first to report to you that 49 members are part of the activation group, which learned of their mission in a conference call Thursday night (Aug.24).

The crew worked to load the task force vehicles before they left their base in Kettering early Friday morning.

Our News Center 7 teams have traveled with the Task Force for several other missions they’ve been assigned to, including Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

RELATED: PHOTOS: Ohio Task Force One helps during Hurricane Sandy

RELATED: Ohio Task Force 1 is home again, ending Hurricane Matthew deployment

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