The warning predicts peak winds of 20-30 miles per hour, with gusts to 45 miles per hour; it also predicts peak rainfall amounts to be an additional 2-4 inches, with higher amounts locally. Rainbands spreading inland will be capable of producing isolated tornadoes late Friday afternoon and evening.
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By 2 a.m. on Saturday, Hermine will be in North Carolina. By Sunday, skies should be clear, with highs in the mid 80s for the remainder of the Labor Day weekend.
At a news conference Thursday, Scott said officials expect storm surges, flooding, power outages, high winds and downed trees when as the storm comes ashore. “All of this together, and parts of it by itself, is life-threatening”. “It’s going to be a lot of risk”.
An Air Force Hurricane Hunter plane found the storm’s winds had reached 75 miles per hour, just over the threshold for a Category 1 hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center. According to NBC News, the storm is expected to make landfall around midnight tonight or early Friday morning somewhere between Apalachicola and Horseshoe Beach. Hermine will then cut through the southeastern US and re-emerge over ocean water off the Carolina coast, although probably no longer as a tropical storm. It was expected to continue to strengthen through Thursday and be near the coast by the night. Low lying areas and coastal regions could see significant flooding along roadways and homes. Unsafe rip currents and beach erosion will remain possible as well. The University of Florida closed Thursday and Florida State University closed Thursday at noon and said it would remain closed until Friday.
Hurricane Hermine is stirring up trouble on Florida’s west coast and is expected to create “life-threatening” conditions for thousands of residents when it hits shore late Thursday, officials said. The governors of Georgia and North Carolina declared states of emergency.
The governor increased to 51 the number of Florida counties under a state of emergency. “We have not had a hurricane in years, people have moved here and we have visitors”.
This will be the first hurricane to strike Florida since Wilma in 2005.
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While residents have stocked up on food and evacuated low-lying areas, winds are beginning to reach speeds of up to 80mph. Regardless, flooding is still a major concern, as is wind damage and coastal erosion along Florida’s Big Bend.
