MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A team of firefighters, paramedics, engineers and other first responders from Memphis left Tuesday morning to help storm-impacted areas ahead of Hurricane Idalia.
The team is part of Tennessee Task Force 1, which left Tuesday morning to deploy to a staging area in Atlanta, the Memphis Fire Department said. It consists of 45 firefighters, EMTs, doctors, engineers and K9 teams. They will be responsible for urban search and rescue efforts.
Hurricane Idalia is expected to make landfall on the west coast of Florida early Wednesday morning as a powerful category 3 hurricane, and will affect the state with hurricane-force winds as early as Tuesday night.
It is the first storm to hit Florida for the 2023 hurricane season, and comes less than a year after Hurricane Ian caused widespread damage to the southwestern part of the state.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 46 counties, a broad swath that stretches across the northern half of the state from the Gulf Coast to the Atlantic Coast. The state has mobilized 1,100 National Guard members, who have 2,400 high-water vehicles and 12 aircraft at their disposal for rescue and recovery efforts. Tampa International Airport and St.Pete-Clearwater International Airport said they would close on Tuesday.
DeSantis warned of a “major impact” to the state, noting that what was originally forecast to be nothing stronger than a tropical storm was now predicted to become a Category 3 hurricane.
“The property — we can rebuild someone’s home,” DeSantis said during a news conference Monday. “You can’t unring the bell, though, if somebody stays in harm’s way and does battle with Mother Nature. This is not something that you want to do battle with.”
Large parts of the western coast of Florida are at risk of storm surges and floods anytime a storm of this magnitude approaches. Pasco and Levy counties, located north of Tampa, both ordered mandatory evacuations for some residents deemed to be at risk. In Levy County, officials said residents of Cedar Key must be off the island by Tuesday evening because storm surges would make bridges impassable.
