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Houston answers call to help Florida ahead of Category 5 Hurricane Milton

HOUSTON – At the request of officials in Florida, Governor Greg Abbott is sending resources to Florida ahead of Hurricane Milton.

The Category 5 hurricane is expected to make landfall Wednesday night or Thursday morning somewhere along Florida’s Gulf Coast.

First responders from Houston are prepared to assist, and efforts are underway to determine the exact number of personnel being dispatched to Florida.

MORE: Climate change boosted Helene’s deadly rain and wind; scientists say same likely for Milton | As FEMA prepares for Hurricane Milton, it battles rumors surrounding Helene recovery

The Houston Fire Department is dispatching personnel from its Tactical Deployment Unit, which includes 10 firefighters. Additionally, several suburban fire departments are also sending staff.

Governor Abbott already committed state emergency resources to Florida ahead of Hurricane Milton, including Texas Task Force 1.

The Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM) has also deployed people from several area fire departments, including Montgomery County, Sugar Land, and Humble.

TDEM has deployed an “Incident Management Team” consisting of emergency management personnel to support incident command, planning, operations, logistics, resource coordination, and disaster finance to assist in what officials in Florida are expecting to be, a historic storm.

Once the hurricane makes landfall in Florida, those crews from Texas will be given their assignments.

If you’re interested in volunteering - you can research more at redcross.org.


About the Author
T.J. Parker headshot

T.J. Parker joined KPRC 2 in June 2023 and is happy to be back in Houston. Before coming back to the Lone Star State, T.J. was a reporter in Miami at WSVN Channel 7. There he covered all things up and down the south Florida coast.

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