As Hurricane Helene rapidly approached land on the Gulf Coast late Wednesday, the United Cajun Navy deployed resources to Florida and Mississippi's coast to try and mitigate any potentially disastrous effects from the historic storm.
Kevin LaFond, a coordinator with the volunteer relief group, said storm surge can bring a significant amount of death and injury in weather events like this and anticipates the storm will become a Category 4 level by the time it makes landfall.
"We're getting more equipment to get down through that high water. We're expecting huge tidal surges and a storm like Tallahassee has never seen," LaFond told Scripps News as he spoke from Natchez, Miss.
RELATED STORY | Hurricane Helene expected to make landfall in US as powerful Category 4 storm
LaFond and other experts say residents and visitors need to heed evacuation orders.
In this storm, areas including Tampa and Tallahassee and the Gulf panhandle was expected to be inundated with water in flooding from the Helene.
"What we're preparing for is a large surge coming in, plus winds in the 130+ mile an hour range. Cat 3, looking at Cat 4 ... all the models are saying this could easily grow," LaFond said.
He said this is going to be an historic storm.
