ATLANTA -- The Miami Valley FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Team known as Ohio Task Force 1, is now headed toward Columbia, SC, after spending a day in Atanta where they waited to see what their orders would be as tropical storm Hanna continues to head toward the East Coast.

The unit stayed in Pearl, Miss., for several days while waiting to see if they were needed after Hurricane Gustav hit the Gulf Coast. Now the focus has shifted to Hanna.

News Center 7's Gabrielle Enright who is embedded with the team, reported on Wednesday that the task force is now shifting gears to Hanna.

On Tuesday, Ohio Task Force 1 members took their search and rescue dogs into several elementary schools in Pearl as part of a training exercise.

Team members spent one more night in Mississippi, before getting orders to head toward Atlanta Wednesday morning.

On Monday, the OHTF1 caravan travelled from Atlanta, Ga., to Pearl, Miss., where crews spent the night on the floor of a community center, or in their vehicles because all the motels and hotels are filled with evacuees. Enright said there were several tornado warnings in Mississippi on Monday night.

On Sunday, OHTF1 pre-deployed to Atlanta and joined FEMA units from other states. During a news conference Sunday afternoon, a FEMA official said the urban search and rescue units were going to Atlanta first, because they could respond to areas hit by Hurricane Gustav, which is now a tropical storm, or tropical storm Hanna, which may turn into a hurricane as it bears down on the East Coast.

OHTF1 leader Michael Muhl, told News Center 7 the 80 members from the Miami Valley are prepared for nearly everything, and their equipment includes buses, semi trucks and all-terrain vehicles and bikes.

Task force member Scott Hall explained that, “Our job is to locate live victims like the Coast Guard did during Hurricane Katrina, except we will do that on the ground level.”

Ohio Task Force 1 spent 10 days at the World Trade Center to help with recovery effort following 9/11. Team members have also been involved in 12 other incidents since then including The Columbia disaster in 2003, Hurricane Ernesto in 2006 and Hurricane Dolly last month.