Men on a four wheeler pass a storm damaged house along Mill Creek in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on Sept. 30, 2024 in Old Fort, North Carolina. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
Colorado sent about 80 first responders to the East Coast to support hurricane relief efforts following Hurricane Helene and in preparation for Hurricane Milton in Florida.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis directed the Colorado National Guard to send a helicopter and eight crew members to Florida Tuesday. Members of the state’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management are spread out helping in various states between Virginia and Florida.
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Polis said the helicopter and its crew were expected to land in Florida late Tuesday.
“I am pleased that Colorado is able to provide Florida with a Chinook Helicopter and its eight crew members to help with Hurricane Milton preparation and relief,” Polis said in a statement. “It is the Colorado way to step up and lend a hand to our fellow Americans in need, today will be no different.”
Members of DHSEM’s Incident Management Team are supporting emergency operations in Columbia, South Carolina, and Tallahassee, Florida. The agency’s strategic communications director is in Raleigh, North Carolina, helping that state’s joint information center, and a voluntary agency liaison is helping in Chesterfield, Virginia.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency deployed Colorado Task Force 1, a search and rescue team consisting of about 200 trained members including firefighters, paramedics, physicians, structural engineers and other specialists.
The West Metro Fire District, based in Lakewood, is the sponsoring agency of CO-TF1. It said in a post on X that about 45 members of the team are already in Florida, and 35 more will fly out on Wednesday. Members sent to Florida are trained in water rescue, wide area search and rescue, and structure collapse. Specially trained K9s and their handlers will help search operations as well.
Prior to traveling to Florida, the original cohort of CO-TF1 members was working in North Carolina supporting Hurricane Helene search and recovery efforts. The Colorado task force joined six other FEMA search and rescue teams already in place in Florida preparing for Hurricane Milton.
Milton, which presents an unusual danger as a Category 5 hurricane, is expected to land in the Tampa Bay area of western Florida Wednesday. A storm surge could reach up to 15 feet. Hurricane warnings have been issued in 26 counties across the state and hurricane watches in another seven counties. It will be the second storm to hit Florida in as many weeks.
Hurricane Helene made landfall Sept. 26 in Taylor County with winds as high as 140 miles per hour.
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