ATLANTA -- Metro Atlanta may be out of the bullseye of Hurricane Florence, but it's become the epicenter of a massive mission to move supplies and people to support evacuees.
"What we're seeing is that Florence is a dangerous, major storm," Gwen Keenan with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in Atlanta said.
The government agency has set up its nerve center in Atlanta to coordinate its massive effort - which involves pulling together 13 federal agencies - to save lives.
"It's going to bring high winds," Keenan said. "It's going to bring storm surge."
FEMA is even deploying swift water rescue teams - and more - to the Carolinas.
The Red Cross of Georgia loaded 15 tractor trailers with supplies, sending them to shelters in Virginia and North Carolina where they're expecting thousands of evacuees - at least.
"Cots, blankets, hygiene kits and then also cell phone chargers so people can charge their phones," Ashley Henyan with Red Cross Georgia said.
And the Red Cross is getting calls from metro Atlantans wanting to help.
"Financial donations are the best way to help people in need so we can make sure that the right supplies are going to the right places at the right time," Henyan said.
Georgia Power is also standing by waiting for requests for help and making sure no repair crews will be needed in Georgia before deploying crews to the Carolinas.
And, at the corporate headquarters of The Home Depot in Vinings, the hurricane command center is operating 24/7 now, rushing emergency inventories of batteries, generators, plywood - and whatever else customers along the coast are needing - to their stores there.
Peter Capel said The Home Depot is keeping the stores open along the coast as long as possible before landfall and will open as soon as possible after.
"It's part of our DNA - there's a social responsibility to take care of the communities that we're in," he said.
Everyone in Atlanta is gearing up for whatever destruction the hurricane delivers.
"We'll move food, water, and supplies into areas so they can be distributed among the survivors," Keenan said.
PHOTOS: Coastal cities brace for Hurricane Florence
So the biggest task begins as soon as Florence moves away: getting the people back on their feet toward recovery.
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