Pittsburgh Army Corps teams in Puerto Rico, Florida ahead of Dorian's mainland arrival

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Pittsburgh sent its emergency power team to Florida and Puerto Rico before Tropical Storm Dorian became a hurricane hurling 80 mph winds and heavy rains near the U.S. Virgin Islands on Wednesday afternoon.

Dorian is expected to become a dangerous hurricane as it enters warm Atlantic Ocean waters nearing the U.S. Southeast, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The center warned the storm could grow into a dangerous Category 3 storm as it pushes northwest in the general direction of Florida over Labor Day weekend.

Pittsburgh’s 13-member Army Corps team deployed early Tuesday morning. Three went to Jacksonville, while 10 went to Puerto Rico.

They planned to install emergency generators where needed at critical public facilities such as hospitals, water treatment plants, and fire and police departments, according to Al Coglio, emergency management chief for the district.

Preparing for power outages

In Puerto Rico, where Dorian threatened to bring heavy flooding and dangerous winds, the team will check on the condition of 300 Federal Eemergency Management Agency generators in storage to make sure they’re ready to produce power if needed, said Dave Bishop, project manager for temporary emergency power with the Corps.

They will install, operate and maintain them, Bishop said.

“Temporary emergency power is one of the most critical things to sustain lives following a disaster,” he said.

Here are the 5 PM AST/EDT August 28 Key Messages for Hurricane #Dorian. For more information see: https://t.co/tW4KeFW0gB pic.twitter.com/uu34UdDYoW

— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) August 28, 2019

Equipping Puerto Rico with solar panels for backup power and other emergency supplies became a priority for disaster relief nonprofits such as the Pittsburgh-based Brother’s Brother Foundation following the devastating damage, deaths and mass power outages caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria in September 2017.

Nonprofit workers with Brother’s Brother, which has an office and shipping warehouse in the city’s North Side, spent much of Wednesday tracking the Dorian’s path and getting updates from partners in Puerto Rico and Florida.

“We’ve been talking to our partners on the ground and keeping a close eye on the storm,” said Sarah Boal, assistant vice president for disaster services and strategic initiatives at Brother’s Brother , which helped to ship everything from water to generators to basic medical supplies amid the cleanup and rebuilding required following Maria.

“What we’re hearing people saying from the ground is that they don’t expect (Dorian) to be terrible,” Boal said about 2:30 p.m. of Dorian. “But they’re really glad they strengthened their systems ahead of time.”

Florida declares state of emergency

The Army Corps team members in Jacksonville are mobilizing equipment needed to install the generators, such as fuel trucks, forklifts and rollback trucks, Bishop said.

Bishop said they’re acting on lessons learned from Hurricane Maria, when he said federal emergency responders were not as prepared as they could have been.

“We learned that we needed to prepare before the storm hits to have our folks on the ground and have our equipment ready to ship down,” he said.

Forecasters predicted Dorian could grow to Category 3 status before a likely collision with the U.S. mainland as early as the weekend.

Shortly after 5 p.m., Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency and urged residents to take precautions as Hurricane Dorian strengthens in the Caribbean on a path expected to take it to the U.S.

Mainland with winds clocked at 80 mph. The governor’s declaration allows resources to be more efficiently and urgently marshaled ahead of the hurricane’s arrival.

Officials were preparing for the hurricane to make landfall somewhere along the state’s eastern shore.

Hurricane #Dorian is now moving north of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, where conditions will improve tonight. The hurricane will continue NW through Thursday night before turning WNW on Friday. pic.twitter.com/9Ti0CR3tbw

— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) August 28, 2019

The Associated Press contributed to this report.