Ohio Task Force 1 has been activated due to the potential for Tropical Storm Helene to become a major hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico.

The team will deploy 82 members skilled in the various aspects of search and rescue operations, including water rescue and K-9,” OH-TF1 said.

Indiana Task Force 1 (IN-TF1) will be deployed to Florida ahead of the landfall of Tropical Storm Helene. The storm formed Tuesday, Sept. 24 in the Caribbean Sea and forecasters said it could strengthen into a major hurricane while moving north toward the U.

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.

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

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.

A shallow coastal shelf makes cities along the Gulf of Mexico more vulnerable to storm surges during hurricanes.

One county warned that the storm, which is expected to hit western Florida, "will be unlike anything we have experienced to date."