Minnesota National Guard deploying to Florida ahead of Hurricane Milton
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota National Guard is preparing to provide emergency assistance in Florida ahead of Hurricane Milton.
On Monday, Governor Tim Walz signed an executive order authorizing the deployment.
"Minnesota will provide every resource we can to support communities across the south that have been devastated this hurricane season," Walz said.
On Monday morning, Hurricane Milton grew into a Category 5 storm with sustained winds of 175 miles per hour. Forecasters with the hurricane center say the storm will hit Florida's western Gulf Coast as a major hurricane in the middle of the week.
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Homeland Security and Emergency Management division is working with the National Guard to determine what kind of assistance Florida will need.
This comes less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene made landfall, which killed at least 162 people and caused rampant flooding across several states.
Eleven members of the Minnesota National Guard are in North Carolina to help with impacted areas from Helene. Last week, more than 70 lineworkers from 18 different electric cooperatives in Minnesota traveled to the southeast to help get the power back on.