More than $45 million in revenue is believed to have been lost when the state suspended highway toll collections to help speed evacuations and relief efforts for Hurricane Irma, Florida’s Turnpike system estimates.
From Pinellas County Government: In light of Hurricane Irma’s heightened threat to lives and property of Pinellas County residents, the mandatory evacuation order is now extended to all residents and businesses in evacuation Level B, effective immediately. The order continues for residents of mobile homes countywide, regardless of evacuation zone, and includes residents previously ordered to evacuate from Level A. Residents in Level B must begin evacuating immediately and secure safe shelter promptly. Residents of Level A and all mobile homes must…
With tropical storm-force winds less than 24 hours away, Hurricane Irma also is expected to bring storm surge of 6-12 feet to the state’s southern coasts, Gov. Rick Scott said Friday night. “Our state has never seen anything like this before,” he said. The governor spoke at an evening news briefing from the state’s Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee. “Think about that: It could cover your house,” Scott told reporters. “This storm surge will rush in; it could kill you.”
Gov. Rick Scott has a message for Floridians: “Evacuate, evacuate, evacuate.” “Don’t take a chance,” the governor said during a Hurricane Matthew briefing in St. Johns County on Thursday afternoon. “Time is running out. There are no excuses not to evacuate.” The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Hurricane Matthew has strengthened to a catastrophic Category 4 storm as it barrels toward Florida’s Atlantic coast. The storm’s maximum sustained winds strengthened to 140 mph as of Thursday morning, and were…
Hundreds of thousands of anxious people boarded up their homes and businesses and grabbed a few belongings to flee inland as Hurricane Matthew gained strength and roared toward the Southeast seaboard on Thursday. In Florida, Gov. Rick Scott said the state, its skies already darkening from early outer rain bands of the life-threatening storm, could be facing its “biggest evacuation ever” as Matthew menaces almost all the state’s Atlantic coast. As people hurried for higher ground, authorities in South Carolina…
As he has all week, Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday continued to stress the potential for peril brought by Hurricane Matthew. “If you think someone is making a bad decision (by not evacuating), call them,” he said during an early morning briefing at the state’s Emergency Operations Center. “Don’t let people try to (stay) in an evacuation area. Do it now; don’t wait.” Matthew killed at least 16 people in the Caribbean as it cut through Haiti, Cuba, and the Bahamas.…
The National Hurricane Center has extended the hurricane warning northward in Florida as Matthew heads toward the East Coast. Meanwhile, Hurricane Matthew is heading toward the Bahamas after hitting Cuba hard. The hurricane center says the hurricane was about 105 miles (165 kilometers) south of Long Island, Bahamas. It has maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (195 kph). The hurricane center said there is a danger of life-threatening inundation during the next 36 hours along Florida’s east coast from North…
