The West Coast of Florida is Getting Closer to Landfall: EMA Announcement on Sunday for a Tropical Storm-Induced Outburst

“This has been happening. It shouldn’t matter whether it’s the third most or the 10th most storm. The pattern of storms intensifying more rapidly is related to climate change. I think that’s something that people should think about when that happens close to landfall.

The storm is moving west-southwest, and it is located about 165 miles west-northwest of Mexico. There are storm surge watches and tropical storm warnings in effect for parts of the west coast of the Florida Peninsula, as well as a Hurricane Warning for the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula.

It is anticipated that he will cross the eastern Gulf of Mexico by wednesday before heading towards the west coast of Florida.

Less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene slammed into Florida’s Gulf Coast and wreaked a path of destruction across the southeastern U.S., the state is again on high alert for another rapidly intensifying storm.

There is also a growing risk of life-threatening storm surge and damaging winds for parts of Florida’s west coast beginning late Tuesday or early Wednesday. The water levels could go as high as 12 feet in parts of Florida, according to forecasters.

“Residents in that area should follow any advice given by local officials and evacuate if told to do so,” the NHC said, referring to the west coast of the peninsula.

In order to prepare people across the peninsula, the Florida Gov. has expanded the emergency declaration to include 51 of the 67 counties.

“Do not get wedded to the cone,” he tweeted on Sunday. “Floridians should prepare now for potential impacts, even if you live outside of the forecast cone. Following all local evacuated orders is recommended by us.

Florida Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said on Sunday that the state is preparing “for the largest evacuation that we have seen most likely since 2017 Hurricane Irma,” when nearly 6.8 million Floridians left their homes, resulting in statewide traffic jams.

He told inland residents that it may be better for them to just stay in place, even though they don’t rely on electricity or anevacuation for medical needs.

Manatee County and Pasco County have ordered the evacuation of residents in certain low-lying areas, mobile homes and RVs, while Pinellas County ordered the evacuation of all residential healthcare facilities within certain zones.

Guthrie also said Floridians should take into account that many are still recovering from Helene: Did they use up their reserves of water, food, pet food? Do they need to buy fresh batteries? Do they have re-stocked their supply kits so that they can last up to seven days?

Florida Gulf Coast University will close on Tuesday and Wednesday due to shifting to remote operations, while public school districts across the country will be closed from Monday to Wednesday.

It’s possible that Georgia and the Carolinas won’t be hit as much by this storm since it is expected to exit into the Atlantic Ocean.

More than 220 people were killed by Helene, one of the deadliest hurricanes to hit the mainland U.S. since Katrina in 2005. The Associated Press reports that about half of the victims were in North Carolina, where historic flooding destroyed entire communities.

Scientists are also exploring whether climate change is causing storms to gain strength more quickly, as Hurricanes Beryl, Helene, and Milton have all done this year. When storms intensify rapidly, it can be difficult to prepare and evacuate communities in time.

It’s the first time in recorded history that three simultaneous hurricanes have hit the Atlantic Ocean after September. Hurricanes Kirk andLeslie are also going strong.

“This is almost like three times the threshold that is used. This is definitely off the charts, says a climate scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The NHC says only Hurricane Wilma and Hurricane Felix have strengthened more rapidly than that.

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The schools and government buildings were closing for several days. Counties have enforced mandatory evacuation zones, and state and local officials have profusely warned residents to follow those orders.

“You don’t have to evacuate hundreds of miles,” Gov. Ron DeSantis has said. “Every county has places within them that you can go to. Maybe it is a friend’s house, a hotel or a shelter.

Air travel into and out of Florida has been disrupted. The airport said it was pausing flights on Tuesday. The Federal Aviation Administration said on X, formerly Twitter, that it was “closely monitoring” the path of the hurricane and advised travelers to check the agency’s flight travel dashboard and their airlines.

Warmer ocean temperatures can lead to more flooding. Storms like Hurricane Helene suck up huge amounts of moisture as they move towards land, which then falls as rain, and can cause flooding far from the coast.

In 2012, only two hurricanes hit the U.S., and both were Category 1 at landfall. But one was Hurricane Sandy, which caused tens of billions of dollars in damage up and down the East Coast.