New York City is sending a task force of 83 specially trained members of the FDNY and NYPD along with six canines to the Carolinas to help deal with the oncoming Hurricane Florence.

The first responders will mobilize at an emergency warehouse in East Williamsburg before departing for Kinston, North Carolina.

Residents of many coastal communities in North and South Carolina are being ordered to evacuate and those further inland are preparing to deal with flooding and power outages.

Team leader and FDNY Battalion Chief Joe Downey’s father along with 40 other members of the Urban Search and Rescue New York Task Force 1 were among the thousands killed on 9/11

Downey said, “A lot of people came in on 9/11 to help us out and we've done it the last couple of years, going other places and helping them out. It is a somber day but we gotta look at it as we're doing the right thing for those we've lost and our loved ones.”

Urban Search and Rescue New York Task Force 1 is one of 28 FEMA urban search and rescue teams across the U.S.

They’ve been activated in the past to help with emergency response more than 20 times since the 1990s, including for Hurricanes Katrina, Matthew, Harvey, Irma and Maria.