SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - A month and a half after devastating flooding in Texas, a K9 team with a San Diego-based search and rescue team has returned home from a sobering mission.
7-year-old Stinger and handler Giulia Nuccitelli are still decompressing after returning from their 17-day mission to Central Texas a few weeks ago.
Nuccitelli and her Dutch Shepherd are members of California Task Force 8, a locally based urban search and rescue team, led by San Diego Fire-Rescue. The two deployed to Central Texas after the deadly flooding, which included dozens of deaths at Camp Mystic in Kerr County.
Nuccitelli and Stinger, trained as a human remains detection dog, were sent to an area just southeast of the camp, along the Guadalupe River.
"This terrain was challenging, water, muddy areas that would suck you in, basically drag you down, or you'd be walking through debris that was like a cobweb of branches," Nuccitelli said.
Nuccitelli said some of the searches were general, to clear an area, while some were more specific. FEMA rules prevent her from getting too detailed about what Stinger detected.
"He did his job, we will leave it at that," Nuccitelli said.
When asked if there were moments when the scope of the tragedy was overwhelming, Nuccitelli acknowledged there were.
"Split second, really see that devastation. You can't believe it happened, can't imagine what people have gone through," Nuccitelli said. "Then you refocus, you are on a mission. Can’t let these people down."
It’s a mission Nuccitelli believes she was able to help fulfill with the help of her partner.
"You want to bring closure,” Nuccitelli said. “My job is to make sure he was okay, but he never said no, or I'm tired. He would just keep going. He made me super proud on this deployment.”
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