Tampa, Fla. (970 WFLA) - Sheriff's deputies from Hillsborough County headed north to bring supplies and help the relief efforts to Hurricane Michael victims in the Florida Panhandle Saturday morning, the Sheriff's Office said.
The deputies left Tampa before dawn in an 18-wheeler filled with water, non-perishable food and cleaning supplies that people donated during the week. They'll go to Panama City. Sheriff Chad Chronister saw them off. They'll "go work in some of the worst conditions, go sleep and try to get some rest in some of the worst conditions, all for the betterment of someone else," he said in a video released by the HCSO.
Riding along with those supplies are 16 law enforcement and detention deputies. They'll relieve the group of deputies already working in the Panhandle as part of the agencies Special Incident Response Team, according to a news release from the HCSO. Chronister did not say how much the effort will cost his agency.
Video of the departure, including comments from Chronister, are embedded below: