Over 5,000 Florida National Guard members have been mobilized ahead of Hurricane Milton’s imminent landfall on Florida’s west coast, as thousands of Guardsmen are supporting recovery operations in communities impacted by Hurricane Helene.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday evening the number of National Guard personnel activated to respond to the hurricane will soon increase to 8,000.

The response includes 450 tactical vehicles, including 140 high water vehicles and aerial, water, and ground National Guard search and rescue teams.

“This is probably the largest National Guard mobilization in advance of a storm in Florida history,” said DeSantis.

The Florida State Guard’s response will also include three high water UTVs, four drone teams, ten maritime crews, two amphibious rescue crews, 15 cut and toss crews, and two UH-60 Black Hawks. 

Additionally, the U.S. Army North has moved its personnel and equipment from its contingency command post to Fort Moore in Georgia to assist requests from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and state leadership,  including high-water vehicles and helicopters for search and rescue operations and medium-lift helicopters to move personnel and equipment.

“There are personnel to help with logistics support and additional search and rescue operations. The National Guard is doing things to be in place and to be ready to support almost immediately,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters Tuesday.

State authorities have helped evacuate 300 healthcare facilities located in the potential path of the storm.

And state veteran nursing homes that are in areas at risk of being impacted by Milton are allowing family members of their residents to shelter with them, as these nursing homes are built to endure Category 5 hurricane winds.

Officials at MacDill Air Force Base, a major military installation in Tampa, Fla., ordered a widespread evacuation on Monday — just two weeks after Hurricane Helene, one of the deadliest storms in recent history, flooded parts of the base.

Navy officials said Monday the service is moving its assets ahead of the storm.

Hurricane Milton, which is currently a Category 4 storm, is expected to make landfall Wednesday night or early Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm is predicted to be the first most destructive hurricane to hit the Tampa Bay area since 1921.  DeSantis declared a state of emergency for 51 out of 67 state counties.

“The No. 1 message, as it has been for several days now, is that you need to prepare, do whatever you need to do, and then get out of the evacuation zones,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said Monday.

“Helene was a wake-up call. This is literally catastrophic, and I can say without any dramatization whatsoever — If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you’re going to die.”

Hurricane Helene hit Florida less than two weeks ago and moved into several southeast states — more than 6,700 Army and Air National Guard members from 16 states have been already deployed to assist emergency workers with recovery operations in communities impacted by the devastating storm.  The Defense Department has deployed over 1,500 active-duty soldiers to help with debris clearing,  search and rescue operations and delivery of food and water supplies to communities in North Carolina. 

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