Michiana rescue and utility crews are getting ready to deploy to Florida and other states as Hurricane Helene moves quickly across the Gulf of Mexico.
The hurricane threatens a “catastrophic” storm surge as well as tornadoes, damaging winds, rains and flash floods.
South Bend firefighters are on their way to North Carolina with boats and equipment to respond to swiftwater and flood rescue. They’ll be joined by personnel from the Mishawaka and Goshen fire departments, and from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
Also, five members of the Mishawaka Utilities electric division are heading to Georgia with two utility trucks to help restore power lost to outages caused by the storm.
The Florida panhandle’s Big Bend area was bracing for a direct impact of the Catergory 4 hurricane Thursday evening, in what forecasters say could be an historic storm.