News 12 New Jersey Meteorologist Dave Curren says Hermine has winds of up to 75 miles per hour as it heads toward the Florida panhandle.
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At 1:55 p.m. EDT (1755 UTC), the center of Hurricane Hermine was located near 28.1 degrees north latitude and 85.1 degrees west longitude. Forecasters warned of “life-threatening” floods and flash floods there.
The last hurricane to strike Florida was Hurricane Wilma, which entered the state from along southwest Gulf Coast as a major Category 3 storm on October 24, 2005. “We also have FEMA personnel deployed to the emergency operations center in Florida to help coordinate any requests for federal assistance”, Rafael Lemaitre, a Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesperson, said in statement. Ocean storm surge could swell as high as 12 feet.
In South Carolina, news outlets reported that high school football games in many areas will be played on Thursday night because Hermine was expected to bring heavy rains to the state on Friday. Gov. Nathan Deal says severe weather related to the storm is expected in Georgia through Saturday.
They warned residents to be aware of the potential for flooding.
Hillsborugh and Pinellas counties are under a tornado watch through 11 p.m.as the hurricane approaches land in the Big Bend.
The National Weather Service in Honolulu has issued a wind advisory. “Mostly anxious about washing out the roads and a few of the homes in low-lying areas”. “We got a bunch of work after the storm (from 2005) but we slowed way down”, he said. He says he’s mostly anxious about the new equipment he’s recently purchased for the waterfront restaurant.
Bass, who left Tallahassee after packing up, said: “It’s not much you can do”. That brings the total to 51 counties. Winds will start to pick up during the afternoon hours and Friday and peak from Friday evening through very early Saturday morning.
The agency said there is some flooding, but nothing major at this time. Typically flood-prone areas, low lying areas, retention ponds, and small creeks and streams would be most likely areas of flooding. No one is allowed in the water. We will be on the quiet side of the tropical system. Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 185 miles (295 km), mainly to the northeast and southeast of the center. Residents and visitors are advised to take shelter as the storm passes. Hermine could produce rainfall accumulations of 5 to 10 inches over parts of northern Florida and south Georgia tomorrow and an additional 4 to 8 inches on Saturday. “Hermine enters Georgia”, Deal said Thursday.
In advance of the storm, Scott declared a state of emergency. Hermine will then cut through the southeastern USA and re-emerge over ocean water off the Carolina coast, although probably no longer as a tropical storm. On the west side, a tropical storm warning is in effect now to Destin, Fla.
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The storm will then continue up the East Coast giving way to clearing conditions across the Carolinas by Sunday.
