Ohioans have made their way to the American south, volunteering their efforts as millions recover from Hurricane Helene's wrath. Ohio Task Force 1 headed north of the Tampa area on Saturday.
"There's been a lot of water damage in this area, tremendous," said Robert Haas of Ohio Task Force 1.
The FEMA-managed team of 82 has been witnessing the hurricane's destruction in Florida first-hand.
"Whole communities have been inundated with four and five feet of water," said. "People are still pulling their belongings out of their house even today and setting them on the front lawn and they're dripping wet."
The retired Shaker Heights firefighter told 3News they were doing overnight water rescues in Tampa, and helped firefighters.
"They deployed some boats, and they actually helped put out a fire," he said. "They had to help get an engine through some floodwaters to get to a burning structure. The fire department put it out, but they needed to make sure they could get their equipment through the water safely because they didn't want to lose it. So we assisted in that, getting them through the water, and they set up their operations to put the fire out."
They spent Saturday in Pasco County, which is north of Tampa.
"Today, we did damage assessments. Our teams did 10,800 damage assessments on specific structures," Haas shared.
Haas said the tragedy for the state is only beginning, and Ohio Task Force 1 is fully committed.
"I think these people are in for a long recovery and we're all happy to be here and do this. This is what we enjoy doing."
We asked Haas what's next for Ohio Task Force 1 and he says they're wrapping up in Pasco County. When they wake up Sunday, they'll get their next assignment and be on their way.