Florida hits another record virus death toll as hurricane looms
- by Joann Nelson
- in Sci-tech
- — Aug 2, 2020
As of 11 a.m. Saturday, Hurricane Isaias was traveling 12 miles per hour and expected to approach the southeast coast of Florida later Saturday and Sunday, according to the the National Weather Service. In Puerto Rico, almost half a million homes and businesses were without power, the Weather Channel reported.
"We've been watching Hurricane Isaias very closely over the past few days", Kim Stenson, director of the state's emergency management agency, said earlier Friday.
"The situation remains fluid and can change quickly", DeSantis said at a Saturday press conference. While the path for the Category 1-2 hurricane does not directly impact Orlando as of yet, Central Florida could still experience Hurricane conditions throughout the weekend.
'If we are in the water it is because we are athletes and we know what we are doing, ' the man told Antena Noticias 7.
According to the latest forecast from the National Hurricane Center, the hurricane would weaken to a tropical storm after brushing Florida on Sunday and hitting the Carolinas on Monday, but the center of the storm would move over the southeastern tip of New Jersey on Tuesday. Isaias is expected to bring heavy rains and potentially life-threatening flash flooding and urban flooding to south and east-central Florida.
Hurricane Isaias could have some company in the coming days.
Conditions should begin to improve in Northeast Florida by midday Monday, as Isaías accelerates toward the Mid-Atlantic states.
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He said hurricane shelters will also be given extra supplies of personal protective equipment as hurricane Isaias approaches. He doesn't anticipate hospitals needing to evacuate patients, but he said one hospital in Brevard County will move some of its COVID patients to a different hospital. Most hotel clerks said they had plenty of capacity and weren't receiving any Isaiah-related bookings yet.
The hurricane comes as coronavirus infections continue to surge in the "Sunshine State", which has reported more than 470,000 cases and almost 7,000 deaths.
The pandemic forced officials to wrestle with social-distancing rules at the same time as disaster response. However, if the track shifts west of Washington (unlikely, but not impossible), minor to moderate coastal flooding could be possible.
Prime Minister Hubert Minnis announced late Thursday that he was relaxing a coronavirus lockdown as a result of the impending storm, but said a 10 p.m.to 5 a.m. curfew would be implemented starting Friday.
Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency on Friday for North Carolina, meaning there are now two active states of emergency in North Carolina.
While mass evacuations would not likely be necessary, the shelters were ready, he said.
