LA, OC Firefighters Send Swift Water Teams To Assist Ahead Of Hurricane Florence
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Local firefighters have hit the road to assist their fellow first responders on the Atlantic Coast as Hurricane Florence bears down on the Carolinas.
Hurricane Florence is now a Category 4 storm, but is expected to gain strength when it reaches landfall Thursday. More than a million and a half people in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia have been evacuated.
The storm is expected to dump days of rain over the region, so residents and authorities have been preparing for widespread flooding.
The Los Angeles Fire Department sent 16 members of the FEMA California Task Force One, Urban Search and Rescue Team to Bowling Green, Virginia, according to LAFD's Amy Bastman. Los Angeles County Fire Department firefighters and FEMA California Task Force Two deployed a 16-member swift water rescue team to Raleigh, North Carolina, the department said in a statement.
Members of the Orange County Urban Search and Rescue Task Force will send swift water rescue personnel and equipment to Virginia, according to the Orange County Fire Authority. It's unclear how many of the 80 members who make up the task force will be deployed.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)