Central Valley sends resources to Florida as state braces for Hurricane Milton
About a dozen PG&E employees from Fresno are in Florida, ready to help get the power back on after Hurricane Milton knocks it out.
FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- As Hurricane Milton moves in on Florida, millions of people are evacuating their homes and preparing for what could be one of the most devastating storms to hit the state.
It comes as the nation's southeast still grapples with the devastation of deadly Hurricane Helene which made landfall less than two weeks ago.
The way Milton intensified over the past few days, means it's all hands on deck for the American Red Cross.
"With this surprising everyone, they decided they needed shelter work and pretty much everybody's going to have to help in the shelter part of it," said Debbie Rohatch, a volunteer from the American Red Cross of the Central Valley.
Rohatsch landed in Orlando today.
"The airport was very full. I couldn't tell you exactly where they were going but yeah a lot of people moving," said Rohatsch.
She's one of 30 volunteers from Central California.
Her deployment is for two weeks, but volunteers from all over the country are expected to be helping those impacted for months.
Also lending a helping hand are hundreds of Pacific Gas & Electric workers who were already in the region following Helene.
"They started to make fairly good progress on restoration there but as progress was moving forward, Milton's forecast came through for Florida. So we've now moved those same support crews," said PG&E spokesman Jeff Smith.
About a dozen PG&E employees from Fresno are now in Florida, ready to help get the power back on after Milton inevitably knocks it out.
"Similar to the type of response we would see here after a severe winter storm in terms of resetting poles, replacing transformers, replacing wires," said Smith.
For the thousands of volunteers in Florida and neighboring states right now, pitching in during a disaster is just the human thing to do.
"It is a privilege. It's really a privilege to try and be there for folks who are going through such a traumatic thing," said Rohatsch.
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