DAYTON, Ohio — Ohio Task Force 1 is preparing to send crew members to Florida Monday night as Hurricane Debby made landfall in the Sunshine State.
Ohio Task Force 1 will send 47 members to Florida, including two K-9s. They will help with search and rescue efforts when needed, HazMat, medical, logistics, safety, communications and planning. Two K-9 handlers and their K-9 partners will be part of the team.
Hurricane Debby has made landfall in northern Florida as a Category 1 storm, bringing the potential for record-setting rains, catastrophic flooding and life-threatening storm surges. The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Debby has maximum sustained winds of 80 mph.
The storm made landfall Monday morning near Steinhatchee, a community of less than 1,000 residents in the Big Bend area of Florida’s Gulf Coast.
While Debby made landfall in one of the least populated areas of Florida, forecasters warned heavy rain could spawn catastrophic flooding in Florida, South Carolina and Georgia.
Nearly 214,000 people were without power in Florida on Monday morning.
The Ohio Task Force 1 members left to head to Florida by 11 p.m.
Tennessee Task Force 1 and Virginia Task Force 1 and Task Force 2 are also being deployed to assist.
📺 10TV+ is available for free on Roku & Amazon Fire TV: Stay up to date on what's happening in your community with a 24/7 live stream and on demand content from 10TV — available on Roku and Amazon Fire TV.