SAN FRANCISCO  - U.S. Coast Guard Group/ Air Station Astoria was awarded the Coast Guard Foundation Pacific Area Admiral John B. Hayes Award here on May 2, 2008 for rescue and support efforts during an unprecedented winter storm that devastated the Pacific Northwest region in December.

With winds topping 130 knots, 14 inches of rain, and 35-foot seas, the air station helicopter crews rescued 136 people in 28 sorties, and boat crews braved rising flood waters to rescue 23 others in the storm that started early Dec. 2, 2007 and ended midday Dec. 4, 2007.

The Aids to Navigation Team repaired damages to the navigational system immediately following the region's most persistent and violent storm on record - a storm for which the National Weather Service issued its first ever West Coast Hurricane Force Wind Warning.

The Coast Guard, in conjunction with the Navy and King County Sherriff's Department, performed multiple hoists from pitched rooftops, small boats, confined porches, second story windows, and cars stranded in rising flood water. Air Station Astoria were able to sustain rescue efforts through continuous maintenance of  the station's two HH-60 Jayhawk helicopters, as well as HH-65C Dolphin helicopters, brought in from Air Stations North Bend, Port Angeles, and San Francisco, with turnaround times as low as 15 minutes and no reported mishaps.

Despite the severely degraded communications capability, five air crews from surrounding stations and three boat crews from Station Tillamook Bay braved the storm for 34 hours straight to accomplish remarkable rescues. Around the group, Coast Guard members volunteered their efforts wherever possible, from clearing roads blocked by trees to providing shelter to community members displaced by the storm.

The Admiral John B. Hayes award, named after the sixteenth Commandant of the Coast Guard, is awarded to units who demonstrate unit excellence.

Video of the Admiral John B. Hayes Award presentation can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOtQgw6re7E