Florida Governor Activates National Guard As “Monster” Hurricane Irma Approaches

With the monster Cat-5 Hurricane Irma fast approaching what looks increasingly like an inevitable Florida landfall later this week, Governor Rick Scott has just announced that he has activated 100 members of the Florida Air and Army National Guard, with an additional 7,000 members expected to be activated Friday morning. Per the Miami Herald:

About 100 members of the Florida Air and Army National Guard were activated Tuesday to begin preparations for Hurricane Irma and all 7,000 members will report for duty Friday morning, Gov. Rick Scott said.

In activating the Guard, Scott said if additional resources are needed before Friday, “then I stand ready to activate as many guard members needed to support our aggressive preparedness actions.”

“With Hurricane Irma now a category 5 storm, we must do all we can to prepare our families and communities for any potential impact from this major weather event,” Scott said in a statement. “We do not know the exact path of this storm, but weather can change in an instant and while we hope for the best, we must prepare for the worst.”

I have now activated 100 FL National Guard members to assist with #HurricaneIrma preparedness. https://t.co/tZyHtGXVTi (1/2)

— Rick Scott (@FLGovScott) September 5, 2017

I’ve also directed all 7,000 guard members to report for duty this Friday and am ready to activate all needed for preparedness actions (2/2)

— Rick Scott (@FLGovScott) September 5, 2017

#HurricaneIrma is now a Category 5. Floridians must make a disaster preparedness plan for their families. Visit https://t.co/1LvIMlxXMO

— Rick Scott (@FLGovScott) September 5, 2017

As we pointed out earlier this morning, Hurricane Irma has recently strengthen to a Cat-5 storm packing sustained winds of 180 mph with gusts of up to 220 mph just as it approaches it first landfall in the Eastern Caribbean.  Meanwhile, the NHC Atlantic Ops twitter page also confirmed earlier that Irma is now the strongest hurricane in the Atlantic basin outside of the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico in NHC records (for more details see: “Monster” Irma Is Now The Strongest Atlantic Hurricane On Record, Florida Preps For “Catastrophic System”).

#Irma is the strongest #hurricane in the Atlantic basin outside of the Caribbean Sea & Gulf of Mexico in NHC records https://t.co/tW4KeGdBFb pic.twitter.com/P8ebbQJR4k

— NHC Atlantic Ops (@NHC_Atlantic) September 5, 2017

Meanwhile, activation of the Florida National Guard follows Governor Scott’s move last night to preemptively declare a “state of emergency.”

BREAKING: @FLGovScott has declared a state of emergency in Florida ahead of Hurricane #Irma #LaborDay pic.twitter.com/3HhWjgWNGc

— Chris Merryman (@realmerryman) September 4, 2017

Of course, with FEMA resources already spread thin in Southern Texas, Florida is going to need all the emergency services personnel they can muster.