ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Central Florida first responders, Red Cross volunteers and utility crews are preparing to help communities in the Florida Panhandle as Hurricane Isaias moves toward the northern Gulf Coast.<\/p>\n
Florida and Alabama have declared states of emergency, and mandatory evacuations have been ordered for some coastal areas in both states. The National Hurricane Center said the storm is expected to strengthen as it moves toward the Gulf Coast on Friday, with landfall expected between 10 p.m. and midnight Eastern time.<\/p>\n
Several Central Florida groups have already deployed or are preparing to respond, including the American Red Cross, Duke Energy, Florida Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 4 and Florida Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 8.<\/p>\n
Pamela Harris, a volunteer with the American Red Cross, is among 370 trained disaster workers mobilizing to support relief operations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to make sure that we’re there for what they need,” said Harris, who has volunteered with the American Red Cross for 23 years.<\/p>\n
The organization is identifying shelter locations, mobilizing trained disaster volunteers and readying relief supplies and emergency vehicles.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know I’m going in there to help, and I know that they need me, and my job is to really hone in on what they need so I can make sure that their recovery goes fine,\u201d Harris said. \u201cWe want to make sure they have immediate help. You know, they’re safe, they’re dry, they are fed, they have a place to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Marion County, Florida Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 8 received deployment orders for teams from Marion County Fire Rescue, Ocala Fire Rescue and Gainesville Fire Rescue.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday our team deployed from Ocala. We have a 25-member team that has left Marion County and is making their way up to Tallahassee, where they\u2019ll remain overnight and await further instructions on where they are going to deploy into the affected areas,\u201d said James Lucas, public safety information manager for Marion County Fire Rescue.<\/p>\n
The team is taking along four boats for swift water rescue capabilities to assist with flooding rescues.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe anticipate after landfall, that they will move in after the storm passes, and then start to do those searches and any rescues that they get called in,\u201d Lucas said.<\/p>\n
The task force is equipped for large-area search and rescue and structural inspection if homes are damaged, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey train very hard in this technical rescue specialty to be able to deploy and help our fellow citizens in their time of need,\u201d Lucas said.<\/p>\n
Florida Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 4 also deployed Thursday afternoon to Tallahassee, where members will stage until the hurricane passes. A total of 45 task force members deployed to prepare for search and rescue missions in Gulf Coast communities.<\/p>\n
Task Force 4 includes Seminole County Fire Rescue, the Orlando Fire Department and Orange County Fire Rescue, each sending 10 first responders. Other members came from nearby departments, including Kissimmee Fire Department, Osceola County Fire Rescue Department, Melbourne Fire Department and Clermont Fire Department.<\/p>\n
The task force deployed as a Type 3 team with swift water rescue capabilities. The deployment includes the Orange County Fire Rescue Department\u2019s Type 2 Swiftwater Rescue Team, which was certified by the state earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Duke Energy is also preparing for possible power outages in areas affected by the storm.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have thousands of resources ready to go,\u201d said Aly Raschid, spokesperson for Duke Energy Florida. \u201cAt this point, we’re just closely monitoring the storm and seeing what happens over the next 24 hours. So we can check and adjust as necessary, but we have a very flexible storm response plan in place and our crews are ready to go if needed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Duke Energy said customers should prepare now, follow emergency management warnings and remain vigilant throughout the storm.<\/p>\n
The length of the task force deployments is not yet known, and more information is expected after the storm passes.<\/p>\n
A Salvation Army crew in Orlando is also preparing to help in the Panhandle and plans to leave Saturday morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Central Florida first responders, Red Cross volunteers and utility crews are preparing to help communities…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[767,2967,17173,17174,5087,770,28,30,29,1609,23352,766,115,768,139,6505,277,3883,12166,835,221,17175],"class_list":["post-422869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-app-community","tag-app-public-safety","tag-app-weather","tag-app-weather-stories","tag-brevard","tag-community-news","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-lake","tag-marion","tag-massiel-leyva","tag-news","tag-orange-county-fl","tag-orlando","tag-osceola","tag-public-safety","tag-seminole","tag-storm-season","tag-vod","tag-weather","tag-weather-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}