NJ governor sends National Guard, military supplies to Florida

🌀JCP&L workers will help restore power to 3 million customers

🌀The NJ Army National Guard is sending 80 members to assist

🌀The hurricane will have no impact on New Jersey

New Jersey is again on the move to assist Floridians in the recovery from a major hurricane for the second time in two weeks.

Hurricane Milton made landfall in Siesta Key, Florida south of Tampa at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday with 120 mph winds knocking out power for nearly 3 million customers as of 8 a.m. Thursday.

The hurricane has brought deadly storm surge to much of Florida’s Gulf Coast, including densely populated areas such as Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Fort Myers.

The rain and the surge were as bad as feared with upwards of a foot of rain falling. The wind not quite as fierce as predicted but still caused heavy damage, according to New Jersey 101.5 Chief Meteorologist Dan Zarrow

"New Jersey faces zero weather impacts from Hurricane Milton. If you stand at Cape May Point on Thursday and look due south, you might see a bank of clouds on the northern edge of the storm. And Milton will probably keep the Atlantic churned up for the next few days, raising rough surf and rip current concerns at the Jersey Shore. That is it," Zarrow said.

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Convoy to Florida

Gov. Phil Murphy announced Wednesday that 80 New Jersey Army National Guard soldiers and 30 military vehicles were sent to Camp Blanding in northeastern Florida. They will work with the Florida Division of Emergency Management and the Florida National Guard. Their tasks may include bringing personnel into weather-impacted areas and delivery of commodities to or from points of distribution.

“New Jersey is committed to doing everything possible to assist Floridians impacted by Hurricane Milton—including sending a convoy to support the Florida Division of Emergency Management," Murphy said in a statement.

The request for help was made through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), the nation’s state-to-state mutual aid agreement.

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3 million without power

Nearly 50 JCP&L line workers and support personnel are among the more than 580 workers from parent company FirstEnergy heading to Florida to assist Florida Light & Power and Duke Energy Florida. The crews left New Jersey on Wednesday and are expected to arrive and begin working in the state on Friday.

JCP&L has had 45 workers have been in the south since Sept. 25. Those workers are not heading to Florida and are expected to return home later this week.

American Red Cross New Jersey sent a Mission Response Vehicle (MRV) with a volunteer to Tallahassee. He will pick up three additional volunteers in Philadelphia and continue south with another MRV.

"The American Red Cross New Jersey Region has deployed 47 disaster workers to the southeast to help with Hurricanes Helene and Milton. We will continue to send our disaster workers to support these efforts during the weeks and months to come," spokeswoman Diane Concannon told New Jersey 101.5.

Members of New Jersey’s Task Force 1 continue to be deployed to North Carolina and have not been sent to Florida, according to State Police Sgt. Charles Marchan. There was a "shift in personnel" that brought some members home and a fresh team brought in.

(Includes material Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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