During a news conference at the Jacksonville Emergency Operations Center, Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency for 42 north and central counties, including Duval, St. John, Nassau, Clay, Flagler and Baker counties.
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Madeline, which has weakened from a hurricane to a tropical storm, was south of Hawaii’s Big Island, where officials had opened shelters and shuttered offices and schools on Wednesday. The order included the state capital of Tallahassee, home to tens of thousands of state workers. The city, which is located roughly 35 miles from the coast, has not had a direct hit by hurricane in 30 years.
Residents were out in force Thursday morning preparing for the storm and stores were already running low on bottled water and flashlights.
The last hurricane to strike Florida was Wilma, a powerful Category 3 storm that arrived on October 24, 2005.
Residents on the Gulf Coast of Florida could see up to 20 inches of rain. Hermine will become a hurricane if its sustained wind speeds top 74 miles per hour.
The hurricane center also predicts storm surge along the coast to vary between one and three feet above ground level.
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.
In Cedar Key, west of Gainesville, Jordan Keeton says workers started placing sandbags on Wednesday to protect his 83 West restaurant from possible flooding.
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The forecast for South Florida is actually improving with the latest forecasts, with clearing skies expected over the weekend after days of clouds and rain.
“This building right here is pretty safe and pretty strong so I think it will be all right”, Keeton said. A cold front will move into North Carolina Thursday afternoon and evening and stall out in central and eastern parts of the state Friday. The center of the storm is expected to be near the Florida coast by early Friday.
Florida prepared for what could be the first hurricane to strike the state in more than a decade as Tropical Storm Hermine picked up strength on Thursday, blasting its way toward the state’s northern Gulf Coast. Tropical storm warnings have been issued through parts of North Carolina.
“By declaring a state of emergency in advance of this storm, we are ensuring that state, regional and local agencies can work together to meet the needs of our communities”.
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The entire area is also under a Flood Watch from Thursday afternoon to Friday night. A hurricane warning was issued Wednesday night for a large swath of the Panhandle from Mexico Beach near Panama City to the Suwannee River, just west of Interstate 75.
