(Image source from: Springfield News-Sun)

Ohio Task Force 1 on Tuesday is deploying from Suburban Dayton to Florida ahead of Hurricane Michael.

A 16-member team of the statewide urban search and rescue unit received activation orders on Monday to report to Eglin Air Force Base in Okaloosa County's Valparaiso, according to a news release.

The team specializes in water rescues and includes a Water Rescue Manager, two Water Rescue Squad Officers, four Boat Operators and Water Rescue Specialists.

The task force is made up of firefighters and first responders from Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana and runs through FEMA Urban Search and Rescue.

While the firefighters are gone, agencies will cover their shifts with overtime paid for by federal authorities.

Ohio Task Force 1 recently returned from North Carolina, where they helped with water rescue efforts during Hurricane Florence and, earlier this year, they rescued victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas.

Hurricane Michael is expected to grow more severe before it hits northwest Florida this week.

The National Hurricane Center reported the Category 1 storm was 485 miles south of Panama City, FL, in its 11 p.m. ET report Monday. Producing strong winds and heavy rainfall, Michael proceeds to move north at 12 mph, with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph.

The storm is expected to make the United States landfall somewhere along the Florida Panhandle, then cut away across the Southeast later in the week, possibly including parts of Georgia and Alabama before heading northward to Maryland and Virginia.

A life-threatening storm surge has been predicted along Florida's Gulf Coast, along with dangerous winds and heavy rainfall.

Hurricane Michael on the path to Florida.

-Sowmya Sangam