Washington volunteers headed to Bahamas to help with Hurricane Dorian search and rescue

Washington volunteers in Florida preparing for Hurricane Dorian

Empact Northwest is the only nonprofit in the country that has an urban search and rescue team trained to deploy internationally.

SEATTLE -- Rescue and recovery teams from Washington state are now in Florida preparing for Hurricane Dorian.

Empact Northwest flew into Florida over the weekend. The approaching hurricane shut down the airport in Orlando so they drove to Atlanta. They are flying into Nassau, Bahamas on Wednesday. The team will then be airlifted into the hardest-hit areas for search and rescue operations and assessing the damage.

Team leader with Empact Northwest Sil Wong-Underwood said in a Facetime interview from Florida, "We'll be on the ground, assessing what exactly needs to be done and what resources we need to bring into the area."

Empact Northwest is the only nonprofit in the country that has an urban search and rescue teams trained to deploy internationally.

All of the team members are volunteers and are ready to respond at a moments notice.

Empact Northwest relies on donations to help people following an emergency. If you'd like to learn more about their efforts and support the cause go to www.empactnorthwest.org/.