Shoppers wait in long lines in Davie, Florida, to buy supplies ahead of Hurricane Dorian on Thursday, Aug. 29.Photo: Brynn Anderson/AP/Shutterstock
Experts are warning Florida residents to prepare asHurricane Dorian makes its way to the U.S.mainland with the potential to strengthen into a Category 4 storm.
“Dorian is expected to become a major hurricane later today, and it will remain an extremely dangerous major hurricane while it moves near the northwestern Bahamas and approaches the Florida peninsula into early next week,” theNational Hurricane Center said.
Hurricane Dorian moves over open waters in the Atlantic Ocean.
As of Friday morning, the hurricane’s center was about 660 miles east of West Palm Beach and had maximum sustained winds of 110 mph,CBS News reported. CBS News weather producer David Parkinson said wind speeds could reach a catastrophic 140 mph before the storm makes landfall.
The National Weather Service said the storm could bring “a triple-threat of dangers” including a “life-threatening storm surge,” heavy rains and “devastating hurricane-force winds.”
“The onset of tropical storm force winds could be as soon as Saturday evening,”officials added in a tweet. “Prepare NOW.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hasdeclared a state of emergencyandsaid in a tweet thathe has requested that Trump declare a pre-landfall disaster for every Florida county.
The storm did not leave as much damage as experts thought when it touched Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, according to the AP. But the storm is growing as it approaches the U.S., drawing its strength from warm, open waters.
Now, Florida residents are bracing for what’s to come.
Tiffany Miranda, of Miami Springs, told the AP that she saw dozens of vehicles lined up for gas after she spent half an hour at BJ’s Wholesale Club.
“You never know with these hurricanes. It could be good, it could be bad,” she said. “You just have to be prepared.”
Another resident, Josefine Larrauri, said she found very few supplies left at a Miami Publix.
“I feel helpless because the whole coast is threatened,” she told the AP. “What’s the use of going all the way to Georgia if it can land there?”
source: people.com
