Florida governor Rick Scott on Tuesday activated 100 members of the Florida Air and Army National Guard to provide support for planning, logistics and operations for potential impacts from Hurricane Irma.
Each member is stationed across the state to advise the governor on what resources are available and what is needed to ensure communities are fully prepared for the storm.
In addition to the 100 preliminary members, all 7,000 National Guard members will be reporting for duty Friday morning.
I have now activated 100 FL National Guard members to assist with #HurricaneIrma preparedness. https://t.co/tZyHtGXVTi (1/2)
— Rick Scott (@FLGovScott) September 5, 2017
I’ve also directed all 7,000 guard members to report for duty this Friday and am ready to activate all needed for preparedness actions (2/2)
— Rick Scott (@FLGovScott) September 5, 2017
Scott said in a statement, “If resources are needed before then, I stand ready to activate as many guard members needed to support our aggressive preparedness actions. With Hurricane Irma now a category 5 storm, we must do all we can to prepare our families and communities for any potential impact from this major weather event. We do not know the exact path of this storm, but weather can change in an instant and while we hope for the best, we must prepare for the worst.”