Laura, a hard-hitting Category 4 Hurricane, hit landfall near Cameron, LA, early Thursday morning with winds of 150 mph and wind gusts of 100 to 135 mph.
Laura threatens to bring destructive winds, flooding rainfall, storm surge and tornadoes areas across western Louisiana as far north and east as Arkansas and the Ohio and Tennessee valleys.
Laura is presently a Category 2 hurricane and expected to weaken even more as it moves farther inland toward Arkansas.
Clermont Fire Department Engineer Micah Warren and Lt. Jeremiah Plasters are deploying for up to 15 days as part of FL Urban Search and Rescue Taskforce 4. They are heading to the Baton Rouge area with 40 other highly skilled firefighters, 14-plus vehicles and a K9.
In addition to search and rescue, this team also performs swift water rescue. Task Force 4 is a regional joint search-and-rescue group with members coming from fire-rescue departments across Central Florida.
Task Force 4 is often called upon not just locally, but elsewhere as well, and credited for helping thousands of lives in the aftermath of storms or catastrophic events.
In 2018, Plasters and several other Clermont firefighters were deployed to the Panhandle for a life-saving mission post-Hurricane Michael.
