TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Sunday that Florida is deploying recovery assistance to North Carolina and Tennessee to help those areas in the aftermath of the devastating impacts of Hurricane Helene.
State agencies that are responding include:
- Florida Division of Emergency Management
- Florida State Guard
- Florida National Guard
- Florida Department of Transportation
- Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission
- Florida Law Enforcement Coordination Task Force
- Law Enforcement Strike Team
DeSantis said the state is also launching Operation Blue Ridge to assist Floridians seeking rescue in western North Carolina, the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Tennessee Valley.
These individuals can fill out an assistance form by clicking here.
In a news release from the governor's office, assets and personnel being deployed include the following:
Florida Division of Emergency Management
- One All-Hazards Incident Management Team
- One Communication Unit Strike Team
- One Telecommunications Emergency Response Task Force
- Ten Truck Loads of Water (which equates to 42,550 gallons of water)
- More than 100 Starlink communication devices
Florida State Guard
- Two Special Missions Search and Rescue Teams
- 8 search and rescue soldiers
- 1 aerial assessment pilot
Florida National Guard
- Two National Guard Response Teams
- 8 National Guard soldiers
- Equipment
- 2 CH-47 Chinooks and crew
Florida Department of Law Enforcement
- One Law Enforcement Coordination Taskforce
- 7 FDLE agents and analysts
- One Law Enforcement Strike Team
- 7 FDLE agents and officers
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Division of Law Enforcement
- 22-man team
- 2 Captains
- 2 Team Leaders
- 12 Officers/Investigators
- 1 LE PIO
- 1Mechanic
- Equipment
- 1 SOG trailer
- 4 High-water vehicles (buggy/high water UTV)
- 3 Airboats
- 3 Shallow Draft vessels
- 18 4x4 trucks
- Aviation
- Fixed-wing aircraft
- 1 pilot
- 1 tactical flight officer
Florida Department of Transportation
FDOT has made the following resources available to support the inspection and assessment of transportation infrastructure maintained by North Carolina's and Tennessee's Departments of Transportation:
- Emergency Cut and Toss Strike Teams
- Infrastructure Damage Assessment Teams
- Bridge Inspection Team (including structures impacted by flood waters)
- Temporary Bridge Materials
- Hydraulic Modeling Professional
- Project & Contract Management Teams
- Public Information Officer & Emergency Communications Technology
