MIAMI, Fla. — Reserve forces from across the country have been dispatched to Florida to assist Coast Guard District 7, which is headquartered in Miami, with support during and after Hurricane Milton.

"We are staging assets outside the path of Hurricane Milton," said Coast Guard District 7 Public Affairs Petty Officer Nick Strasburg. "In regard to asset crews, we have approximately 17 aircraft on standby. We have 30 cutters mobilized in regard to getting out of the storm's path. And then we also have reserve forces from across the country coming to prepare for the impact."

Strasburg said search and rescue will be crews' top priority after the storm hits.

"The Tampa Bay region will be hit hard, so they'll need help just getting search and rescue completed first," he said. "After that step, pollution concerns, and just making sure people are accounted for."

Strasburg said anyone in distress should call 911 or Channel 16, the maritime distress channel.

"Coast Guard capabilities to conduct search and rescue will be diminished during the storm, but if you relay to us through appropriate channels, we will be certain to launch assets to recover when we are able to," Strasburg said.

He urged people who have removed and secured their vessels to secure or turn off emergency distress signals so the Coast Guard can get to people who need help. He said that with Hurricane Helene, there were a lot of false distress signals.

"We urge the public, if they can secure those and turn those off knowing their vessel is safe," Strasburg said. "We had 149 alarms, and 120 of them ended up being false alerts."

Strasburg also said conditions like storm surge and wind speed can impact how quickly the Coast Guard is able to respond.