Senior Deputy Peter Hart and Deputy Rick Kelly, both members of the Richland County (S.C.) Sheriff’s Department’s Special Response (SWAT) Team, are seen here ensuring public safety and monitoring the impacts of Tropical Storm Florence as the now-degraded eye approaches Columbia, S.C., Sat., Sept. 15, about 9:30 a.m.

Prior to and throughout the storm, Special Response Team operators – along with deputies from EOD, K-9, and traffic units – were organized into mobile “strike teams” capable of providing the full-spectrum of operations from counter-looting to swift-water rescue, securing perimeters around downed power lines, fielding chain-saw teams in order to clear debris from emergency routes, even saving stranded animals and checking-on elderly shut-ins.

– Photo and extended caption by RCSD Special Deputy W. Thomas Smith Jr.