Twentynine Palms Marines answer call to help storm cleanup efforts in Cathedral City
More than two dozen Marines stationed in Twentynine Palms answered the call to help after extreme flooding from Tropical Storm Hilary in the Panorama neighborhood in Cathedral City.
"You know, they'll come in and they're busting their butts, and getting stuff done. And it you know, it makes me proud," Rick Ravanelo, a Cathedral City resident.
Ravanelo's home was one of the many that suffered major flooding.
As a Marine veteran who served 10 years, Ravanelo welcomed the new generation of service members.
"They're pulling stuff out of the house. And I don't even want to thank you for doing this because, you know, you're an American, you're a patriot. That's why they're doing it," Ravanelo said.
The Marines came from the Twentynine Palms base. All of them have about six months of training so far.
"The amount of force that you can bring in just a small team, it's different than a lot of communities have access to," said Daniel Bewel, a Marine instructor at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms.
Belwer organized the clean-up effort.
"I try to find opportunities for them to be able to get off base, come out and do community service stuff, find something that's physically demanding, so that they can kind of burn off some of that energy that you get just sitting in a classroom for too many too many days," Belew said.
The Marines spent the day shoveling mud out from multiple flooded homes. Supporting the recovery efforts as families work to rebuild everything they lost.
"I'll never, I'll never forget the rest of my life, and see how they'll come together," Ravanelo said.
