Polk agencies dispatch help to communities flooded by Hurricane Idalia in North Florida
Emerging from Idalia with little damage, Polk County agencies and nonprofits are rapidly assembling and dispatching crews to aid flooded communities in North Florida.
Polk County Sheriff's Office and Polk County Fire Rescue sent off a volunteer team with from Special Operations Base in Bartow about 1:45 p.m. Wednesday. Sheriff Grady Judd thanked those who volunteered to head north and offered a prayer for their safety.
"We are here to give help to another part of the state that has suffered significantly due to the hurricane," he said. "As you all know, it's much better to give help than receive help because we've been on both ends of that."
There are 47 members of the Sheriff's Office and nine members of the county's Fire Rescue team headed to Cedar Key, an island community three miles out into the Gulf of Mexico that is one of the hardest hit by Idalia. The emergency self-contained rescue team will assist the Levy County Sheriff's Office in the aftermath of the storm.
"Part of the area we are expecting to deploy to is still under several feet of water.," Judd said. "It will be a challenge."
Polk will transport a portable 100-foot radio tower they will assemble to allow first-responders within a 15- to 20-mile radius to have clear communication with each other. The county will send four vehicles in addition to crews: a mini-pumper truck to help with any fires, a tanker truck for water, an ambulance and a pick-up truck for potential off-road rescues, Deputy County Manager Joe Halman said.
"You have to take the resources with you and create a city," he said.
Lakeland Electric had sent three line crews and a service repair crew north to Tallahassee to assist in power restorations as of 1 p.m. Tuesday, LE spokeswoman Cathryn Lacy said.
Bartow Electrical Utility had seven employees awaiting news from Florida Municipal Electrical Association to see whether they would assigned to help mutual aid efforts somewhere in Florida, Director Brad Hiers said. If tapped, they would join employees from Fort Meade and Wauchula to create a team of 12 to aid with power restoration.
The Salvation Army staged eight emergency response teams at its North Lakeland site, ready to deploy to areas hardest hit by Idalia. The nonprofit international religious organization said crews would be ready to deploy Wednesday afternoon.
"As we know the impacted areas are safe for our teams to enter in North Florida, we will be placing them in the areas where the need is the greatest," Steve Vick, incident commander for The Salvation Army Emergency Services Incident Management Team in Florida, said in a statement.
An additional eight teams were on standby to being aiding in their local communities on Wednesday.
Live updates: Hurricane Idalia leaves flooding, storm surge after tearing through Florida
How to donate to the Salvation Army for Idalia victims
Individuals interested in donating to The Salvation Army to help aid those impacted by Idalia can do so in several ways:
Donate online at helpsalvationarmy.org and select the "Hurricane Idalia" fund
Call 800-SAL-ARMY (725-2769)
Text STORM to 51555 to donate
Venmo @SalvationArmyUSA and use the key words "Hurricane Idalia," "Hurricane" or "IdaliaAbout"
Mail checks to: P.O. Box 1959, Atlanta, GA 30301
Sara-Megan Walsh can be reached at [email protected] or 863-802-7545. Follow on X @SaraWalshFl.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Polk County agencies dispatch aid to communities ravaged by Idalia
