CLEVELAND — Hurricane Helene is on the minds of Northeast Ohioans as it prepares for landfall Thursday night. Some Ohio volunteers are already on the ground in Florida preparing to give aid, while flights are now getting canceled in Cleveland.
If you are heading to or through Florida, Atlanta, Charlotte, or Nashville the next few days, you'll want to keep an eye on your flight at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.
As of 3 p.m. Thursday, nine departing flights from Cleveland to the state of Florida have been canceled, and so have ten arriving flights from Florida. You can get the latest flight status from Hopkins Airport here.
Meanwhile, some volunteers from the Buckeye State are already set up in Florida bracing for impact.
"We're anticipating probably moving in the dark tonight, which is not the best thing because it creates a lot of hazards," said Jeffrey Newman, a task force leader of Ohio Task Force 1.
The federally managed urban search and rescue response team based out of Dayton is currently camped in Orlando, ready to enter Tallahassee after the hurricane slams the area.
"That will comprise of my water people, my rescue people, to go over there, to clear roadways, to get in there, and then start searching, any other assistance that those people may need down in that area," Newman said.
The American Red Cross Northern Ohio has assigned six volunteers to the Hurricane Helene disaster response.
Mahogany Coward of Canton arrived in Tallahassee on Tuesday and is preparing evacuation shelters.
"When it comes through, it's going to guarantee knock some power out," Coward told 3News. "There's going to be tree damage, flooding, electricity. Let me just state that again, electricity is generally the reason why we open up these evacuation shelters. You need to charge your phone. Family is concerned. People get separated during these storms."