SUWANNEE COUNTY, Fla. — Indiana Task Force 1 (IN-TF1) is helping with damage cleanup in Florida following Hurricane Helene.
The major hurricane left flooding, downed trees and power outages in its wake. At least 11 people have died.
IN-TF1 sent 80 people to help with any emergency response that's needed. They were deployed to the Florida panhandle before Helene made landfall, but jumped into action as soon as the storm hit.
As of Friday morning, the team was in Suwannee County, Florida. The task force shared photos on X of team members helping clear roads of downed trees.
IN-TF1 is planning to be in the area for about two weeks, but could be extended if needed.
IN-TF1 is one of 28 "highly trained" Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)-sponsored Urban Search and Rescue teams in the United States, according to the Government of Indianapolis.
The City of Indianapolis said IN-TF1 has seen operational deployments to Oklahoma City in 1995; the World Trade Center 2001; to Surfside, Florida for the Champlain Tower Collapse and Mayfield, Kentucky at the collapse of the Mayfield Consumer Products facility in 2021.
IN-TF1 has also responded tornado events in Indianapolis, Lafayette, Evansville and Henryville.
The Task Force was established in 1992.
