TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -Residents and officials from Florida were keeping an watch on the Tropical Storm Ian as it made its way across the Caribbean on Sunday. The storm is forecast to increase in strength and turn into an important hurricane in the next few days, based according to a forecast path towards the state.
Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency covering all of Florida on the same day expanding the initial order that been affecting more than two dozen counties. The president urged people to prepare for a storm that is likely to be devastating large portions of the state, bringing intense rains, powerful winds, and rising seas.
“We encourage all Floridians to make their preparations,” DeSantis stated in a statement.
Tropical Hurricane Ian is threatening to hit the Caribbean as well as Florida with storm-related conditions.
Vice President Joe Biden also declared an emergency, directing his Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, also known as FEMA to coordinate disaster relief efforts and offer assistance to safeguard the lives of those who suffer and property. Biden delayed his scheduled September. 27 excursion to Florida because of the hurricane.
The National Hurricane Center said Ian was likely to intensify before moving across the western part of Cuba and then towards the coast to the West of Florida as well as the Florida Panhandle towards the mid-week. The agency advised Floridans to put hurricane plans in place and keep an eye on developments in the storm’s course.
Ian was predicted to turn into an apocalypse on Sunday, and then an important storm could be a reality as early as the end of Monday. Ian was able to sustain sustained maximum winds of 50mph (85 km/h) Saturday night, as it swung around 395 miles (630 kilometers) south-east from Grand Cayman, in the Cayman Islands.
An advisory for hurricanes was issued for the island, as well as Hurricane watches have been issued to the western part of Cuba.
“Ian forecast to begin rapidly intensifying,” the center for hurricanes said.
John Cangialosi, a senior hurricane specialist at Miami’s center, said it’s not clear yet which area Ian is likely to strike the hardest. He advised that Floridians must begin preparations for the storm by gathering supplies for possible power outages.
“At this point really the right message for those living in Florida is that you have to watch forecasts and get ready and prepare yourself for potential impact from this tropical system,” the expert stated.
At Pinellas Park, near Tampa there was a long lines at the Home Depot when it opened at 6 a.m. Saturday The Tampa Bay Times reported. The manager Wendy Macrini said the store had sold 600 cases of water in the late afternoon, and had run through generators.
People were also buying pieces of plywood to reinforce the windows of their homes: “Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it,” Matt Beaver of Pinellas Park, told the Times.
In another area, a powerful post-tropical cyclone Fiona struck the shores on Saturday in Nova Scotia in the Atlantic Canada region, washing homes into the sea, torn off rooftops , and cutting off power for over 500 000 customers across two provinces.
