An Indiana task force will respond to a tropical storm expected to hit Florida and the southeastern United States later this week.

Tuesday, Governor Greg Abbott deployed Texas A&M Task Force 1 to the Sunshine State. The Task Force is one of 28 federal teams under FEMA’s National Urban Search and Rescue System. Headquartered in College Station, it’s one of two statewide search-and-rescue teams under the direction of the Texas Department of Emergency Management.

VA-TF2 has frequently been activated to assist with natural disaster relief, most recently in August while assisting emergency responders in Georgia and South Carolina respond to Tropical Storm Debby. They went to Florida last year to help respond to Hurricane Idalia, a category 4 storm.

Another storm system is taking aim at Florida, this time possibly the Panhandle with storm effects all along the Gulf Coast. Tropical Storm Helene, soon to be a hurricane, is sweeping up from the Caribbean Sea into extremely warm waters that are fuel for tropical cyclones.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday said Florida is preparing for a direct hit from a major hurricane that could intensify quickly before it makes landfall in the Panhandle later this week. The National Hurricane Center predicted a tropical storm currently in the Gulf of Mexico will become Hurricane Helene as it moves north toward Florida by Thursday.

Helene is expected to rapidly intensify into a major and massive hurricane with 115-mph winds by the time it makes landfall Thursday.

Florida residents are already evacuating and filling sandbags days ahead of the arrival of Tropical Storm Helene, which is forecast to rapidly intensify into a hurricane.