Ohio Task Force 1 mobilizing additional crews for Hurricane Ian relief

An additional 35 Ohio Task Force 1 members are set to depart from the Vandalia headquarters Thursday as part of the relief response to Hurricane Ian.

OH-TF1 received orders to activate as a Type 1 team after Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida. Additional team members were rostered and prepared earlier this week in anticipation of the possible request, according to a Facebook post by the task force.

“The team will deploy an addition 35 members skilled in the various aspects of search and rescue operations as well as hazmat, medical, logistics, safety, communications and planning,” the post read. “Their specific destination is yet to be determined.”

A convoy of 14 semis, trucks, buses, boats and trailers headed south Saturday afternoon ahead of the storm. On Wednesday morning the crew left Alabama for Florida.

Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida Wednesday afternoon as a Category 4 hurricane, with top winds of 155 mph, according to the Associated Press. The storm left people trapped and about 2.5 million with power in Florida.

The National Hurricane Center reported Ian was downgraded to a tropical storm Thursday morning, but hurricane conditions are possible in northeast Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, as well as a second landfall in South Carolina.

Heavy flooding is also forecasted for Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, with life-threatening storm surges possible in parts of the region.

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