BOSTON, MA (WBZ-AM) – As Hurricane Florence continues to churn through the Atlantic, meteorologists say while the storm has slightly weakened – it is still extremely powerful.
The storm currently has maximum sustained winds of 130 miles per hour -- and it's moving west north-west at 15 miles per hour.
On the Carolina coast -- people are heeding evacuation orders -- and getting out -- before Florence shows up potentially traveling up the eastern seaboard.
The National Weather Service says this storm is expected to bring catastrophic flooding -- and possibly life-threatening storm surge to that area.
Locally in Massachusetts, a team of specially trained first-responders from Boston’s North Shore are making their way to Virginia.
46 men and women from the Massachusetts Task Force 1 are travelling to a military base there where they will monitor the impact of the hurricane
Robert Better is the Task Force leader. He says the team left Beverly with 3 K-9’s and several tractor trailers filled with equipment for any possible swift-water rescue mission.
The team has responded to other disaster missions in the past, including Hurricane Katrina and the Springfield tornado.
Better tells WBZ NewsRadio1030 that members are required to swim 5,000 yards and go through equipment training inorder to quality as a swift-water rescuer
The Red Cross has already sent nine volunteers from and is going to deploy emergency vehicles to Virginia and the Carolinas as those areas brace for the hurricane.
Several people have returned to Massachusetts to escape from Hurricane Florence which is bearing down on the southeast coast. WBZ-TV reports flights from North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia arrived at Logan Airport early Tuesday morning, bringing back vacationers, college students and others. Some airlines are reportedly allowing people to re-book flights for free if their plans would take them into the potential path of the hurricane.
WBZ NewsRadio1030’s Bernice Corpuz reports.