PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Volunteers, first responders, National Guard members and utility crews from the Philadelphia/South Jersey region have headed to Florida to help those affected by Hurricane Milton.
Dozens of first responders who are part of Pennsylvania Task Force One started to make their way to Florida Wednesday night. The New Jersey Army National Guard also announced that it would send 80 soldiers and 30 military vehicles, expected in Florida by the end of the week.
The Red Cross and other organizations have been tasked with caring for the tens of thousands of people in Florida who went to shelters ahead of Milton’s landfall on Wednesday. Many of them are still reeling from Hurricane Helene late last month.
The four Red Cross volunteers from Southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey had sleeping bags, pillows and a few weeks’ worth of clothes with them as they took off in empty Red Cross disaster relief vans. The plan was to get to Tallahassee; load up the vans with food, water and other supplies; then get out to the communities.
“Just the basic items we’ll get out to them right away. That’s our goal,” said volunteer Marty Westermann.
“That’s what we do up here everyday when we’re answering fire calls. Just going up, giving them something to give instant comfort, and [letting] them know we’re there to help them.”
The deployment is for two weeks and the volunteers say they’re preparing for 12-hour daily shifts — that could go longer. Dianne Heard was in Florida two years ago for Hurricane Ian and said she knows what it’s like to help those who may have lost everything.
“We’re helping them to see that there is hope,” she said. “They are on the road to a better place.”
Area energy providers PECO and PSE&G also deployed crews to central Florida to help more than 3 million people reportedly without power. A lot of work is needed in the days and weeks to come to get electricity flowing again.