{"id":54581,"date":"2019-09-03T16:46:09","date_gmt":"2019-09-03T16:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/09\/03\/the-coast-guards-hurricane-dorian-response-is-underway-the-florida-national-guard-is-next\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T08:39:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:39:48","slug":"the-coast-guards-hurricane-dorian-response-is-underway-the-florida-national-guard-is-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2019\/09\/03\/the-coast-guards-hurricane-dorian-response-is-underway-the-florida-national-guard-is-next\/","title":{"rendered":"The Coast Guard is fighting Dorian now, the National Guard soon to join the battle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the coasts of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas are bracing for possible storm surge from the now-Category 2 Hurricane Dorian<\/a>, a military disaster response is already underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Florida-based Coast Guard<\/a> aircrews ran a medical evacuation mission Monday, while about two dozen cutters gathered in Key West <\/a>and more than 5,500 National Guardsmen<\/a> moved to staging areas for possible storm response, according to news releases from the services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven though the storm\u2019s category has changed, it\u2019s still a life-threatening storm, with high winds expected to affect Florida and the Carolinas over the next few days,\u201d Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman told reporters in a briefing Tuesday. \u201cEven without a landfall, there may be some significant impacts, which we\u2019re preparing for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 4,000 National Guardsmen are pre-staged in Florida, according to U.S. Northern Command chief Air Force Gen. Terrence O\u2019Shaughenessy, with another thousand or so activated throughout Georgia and South Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those numbers could be in flux as the storm\u2019s path shifts. As of midday Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center showed Dorian hitting Florida early Wednesday morning, before making its way to South Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFlorida is reevaluating as we speak, its posture, and its required force on duty,\u201d National Guard Bureau chief Air Force Gen. Joseph Lengyel told Military Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that state might make its personnel and assets available to its neighbors, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs this storm moves north, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina will, in succession \u2014 I believe \u2015 add more forces to their National Guard structures that are in place,\u201d Lengyel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, four MH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopters from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater made five medevac runs from Marsh Harbour, in the Bahamas\u2019 Abaco Islands, to medical personnel at Nassau International Airport, according to a release, saving 19 in all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those aircrews had been pre-staged at Andros Island, Bahamas, the release said, and they planned to continue search and rescue efforts on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bahamian Prime Minister Hubert Minnis announced Monday that at least five people had died in the Abaco Islands, the Associated Press reported, since Dorian hit the country\u2019s 700-plus islands over the weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, more than 20 cutters from Key West and Miami gathered in Key West over the weekend, \u201cin preparation for deploying to Hurricane Dorian [affected] areas in the Florida and Bahamas,\u201d according to a release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crews in Coast Guard Stations Mayport, Port Canaveral and Ponce De Leon Inlet also relocated response boats to a safe haven as part of preparation efforts on the eve of the storm making landfall in the United States, officials told Military Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials urged the public to follow all evacuation orders and to staff off the water until the hurricane passes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Coast Guard will continue to support the Bahamian National Emergency Management Agency and the Royal Bahamian Defense Force, they added.<\/p>\n\n\n\t