Some local heroes are back home in South Florida after helping search for victims following Venezuela’s devastating earthquakes.
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According to the Venezuelan government, the death toll has climbed to more than 3,300 people, and more than 16,500 are injured.
The members of Urban Search and Rescue Florida Task Force One and Two and their K-9s arrived at Miami International Airport at around midnight Monday after spending eight days in some of the hardest hit places in Venezuela.
The fighters from the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County came home to cheers. But while they’re experts at their work and natural disaster response, especially following hurricanes in the U.S. and Caribbean, the devastation in Venezuela was a sobering experience.
Capt. German Leal, of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, grew up in Caribe, Caraballeda in La Guaira.
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“I saw nothing but sadness and destruction,” he said when he arrived at the airport. “And it was hard to absorb initially, but once we got on the road… it started getting better.”
Leal saw the setting of his childhood flattened underneath the rubble.
“We used to ride bike with my cousins, go to McDonald’s, listen to music, have hamburgers,” Leal said. “So being there and seeing all that area destroyed was very hard to absorb. You know, the buildings were down, people were everywhere, and it was difficult.”
But he knew he had a mission to do.
“I usually go there on vacation and go see my family, and this time the uniform was on and it was time to go to work,” Leal said. “The people in Venezuela and La Guaira were great. They were eager to help. They were there for us. They even gave their water to us, which we didn’t want to accept because we had our own supplies and they needed more supplies than we did.”
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