Nearly two-thirds of Florida’s counties are now under a state of emergency because of a tropical depression that’s intensifying in the Gulf of Mexico and expected to make landfall Thursday afternoon as either a tropical storm or a Category 1 hurricane.
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The depression was placed at about 415 miles to the west and southwest of Tampa, Fla., with maximum sustained winds of 35 miles per hour.
A Tropical Storm Warning has been issued for the Anclote River to the Walton/Bay County line, this includes Pasco, Citrus and Hernando Counties. The Tuesday afternoon advisory from the National Hurricane Center is for the coast between the Anclote River, near Tarpon Springs, to Indian Pass, south of Port St. Joe in Gulf County.
The hurricane center expects heavy rains over much of Florida, with isolated areas seeing as much as 15 inches. Earlier in the day, Gov. Rick Scott warned people on the Gulf Coast and in the Tampa Bay area to prepare for 5 to 10 inches of rain and potential tornadoes.
The system is expected to make landfall late Thursday or early Friday near the Florida Panhandle as a tropical storm.
Portions of the Florida Gulf coast are now under a hurricane watch or tropical storm watch as Hermine moves closer.
Today will be a big day for the slow-moving and unpredictable Tropical Depression 9.
Maximum sustained winds are near 35 miles per hour, with higher gusts. Tropical storm warnings are in effect for other sections of Florida’s Gulf coast.
He says, however, the path should change soon.
“You can rebuild a home, you can rebuild property, you cannot rebuild a life”, Scott said at a news conference Thursday afternoon, adding that “we are going to see a lot of flooding”.
Florida, which hadn’t seen a hurricane since Wilma on October 24, 2005, issued warnings on the dangers of the storm earlier this week.
Outflow from the storm has been bringing rain to the east coast of Florida. The YMCA of Florida’s First Coast also canceled all its after-school programs in Duval County for Thursday.
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(AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy). People jump into Hilo Bay in Hilo, Hawaii, as Topical Storm Madeline drops rain on Hawaii’s Big Island, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016. The Hawaiian islands of Maui, Molokai and Lanai were under a tropical storm watch, but there were no alerts for Oahu or Kauai. Dare County Emergency Management Director Drew Pearson said the tropical depression resulted in “no impacts” on areas such as Cape Hatteras.
