TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is scheduled to give an update at 8:30 a.m. from the Escambia County Public Safety building on the status of Hurricane Isaias.
Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Jared Perdue will also give updates on Panhandle preparations.
News4JAX will stream the news conference live. Press play above to watch
With maximum sustained winds of 110 mph, Isaias is set to strengthen into a Category 3 major hurricane Friday morning. It is expected to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday.
On Thursday, DeSantis urged residents in the Panhandle to heed evacuation orders and prepare for power outages and flooding as Isaias is forecast to bring impacts across the Panhandle, including storm surge, heavy rain and possible tornadoes.
DeSantis urged residents to assume they could lose power and to stock up on water, gasoline and nonperishable food. He warned that already saturated ground could raise the risk of flooding inland as well as along the coast.
On Thursday, Bay, Escambia, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Walton, Franklin and Gulf counties had issued evacuation orders, generally for Zones A and B, barrier islands and other low-lying areas. DeSantis said evacuees did not need to travel hundreds of miles, but should follow local officials’ instructions and move to a safe shelter.
The state was preparing more than 1,000 generators, 500,000 gallons of gasoline, 1 million gallons of diesel, more than 3 million meals-ready-to-eat and 1.1 million bottles of water, DeSantis said. More than 6,000 utility workers were on standby to help restore power.
The Florida Department of Transportation had nearly 260 pieces of heavy equipment and 100 pumps ready for deployment, DeSantis said. Tolls were being waived on the Garcon Point Bridge in Santa Rosa County and the Spence Parkway and Mid-Bay Bridge in Okaloosa County.
DeSantis also warned residents to operate generators outdoors and away from homes because they can produce deadly carbon monoxide.
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