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HURRICANE DORIAN HAS strengthened into an “extremely dangerous” storm as it bore down on the Bahamas and the east coast of the US state of Florida.
Dorian is expected to make landfall in the Bahamas tomorrow and in Florida on Monday night or Tuesday.
The Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said hurricane “has strengthened to an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane” on a five-level scale.
The storm has winds near 220 kilometers per hour, according to the NHC.
“A prolonged period of life-threatening storm surge and devastating hurricane-force winds are likely in portions of the northwestern Bahamas, where a hurricane warning is in effect,” the NHC said.
Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis has urged residents of the Atlantic Ocean archipelago in the path of the “very powerful and potentially life-threatening hurricane” to seek safety.
‘Very great danger’
Minnis told a press conference that the storm was life-threatening.
Those who refuse to evacuate place themselves in very great danger … Do not put your life and those of your loved ones at unnecessary risk.
“Do not be foolish and try to brave out this hurricane,” Minnis said. “The price you may pay for not evacuating is your life.”
With the path of the storm still uncertain, coastal Florida residents were not under evacuation orders yet.
However, many have stocked up on food, water and other supplies and made preparations to flee their homes.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has issued a statewide declaration of emergency and urged its millions of residents to prepare for what he said could be a “major event”.
“We’re anticipating a massive amount of flooding,” DeSantis said.
We urge all Floridians to have seven days’ worth of food, medicine, and water.
“If you’re in an evacuation zone and you’re ordered to evacuate, please do so,” DeSantis said.
About 2,000 service members had been mobilised so far and another 2,000 would be today, the Florida National Guard said.
‘Absolute monster’
US President Donald Trump said Dorian was “looking like it could be an absolute monster” and canceled a trip to Poland to stay behind and focus on preparations for the storm.
“All indications are it’s going to hit very hard,” Trump said in a video.
“Some people said bigger or at least as big as Andrew,” a Category 5 storm that left 65 people dead in 1992, he said.
Trump declared a state of emergency in Florida, authorising federal assistance to supplement state and local efforts.
Georgia – another southeastern state that could be in the storm’s path – has declared a state of emergency for 12 counties.
Governor Brian Kemp said the hurricane ”has the potential to produce catastrophic impacts to citizens” throughout the southeast coastal region of the US.
Trump warned that Georgia “is very much in (the hurricane’s) path also. Georgia could be very much affected”.
The US Coast Guard said ocean-going commercial vessels should make plans to leave south Florida ports.
A number of schools announced that classes would be canceled until at least Tuesday.
Orlando International Airport – the main airport for nearby Disney World – said it would halt commercial flights at 2am (6am Irish time) on Monday “out of an abundance of caution”.
NASA is also based close by and it has confirmed it will be moving a mobile rocket launcher from a launch pad into a vehicle assembly building to protect it from the storm.
Includes reporting by - © AFP 2019
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So now its hitting Florida and not Puerto Rico it’s a state of emergency and it’s ok to send funds
@LittleBee:
Last storm to hit PR, funds were passed on only for corrupt officials to skim for themselves, also countless amounts of foodstuffs and medical supplies were shipped there only for them to sit around in PR warehousees and rot while said officials blamed the Trump admin for not sending them.
#Democrats
@LittleBee: Not to mention all the “White Americans” that live in Florida. Makes it a major emergency. That right Trump ?
@➕The Gray➕: Bollox
@➕The Gray➕: Puerto Ricans are American citizens and if like you say are struggling to get aid due to a corrupt government then that is even more of a reason for Trump to put boots on the ground and help them. Trumps tweets when the hurricane had Puerto Rico in its path was to blame Puerto Rico for having another hurricane
@➕The Gray➕: can you prove this? Or are you just repeating your masters lies?
@Justin McNulty:
Do a little research pal, probably not a good idea to swallow every Democrat brick that you’re fed.
I’m just happy that lady has enough baby wipes and toilet paper for a nuclear fallout
Looks like it’s luckily going to stay offshore of Florida but the Bahamas are in for an almighty battering at the moment.
@Luap: It’s quite wide. Looks like the coast from Fort Pierce to Flagler Beach is still going to be hit hard, though they may be lucky to get heavy rain more than dangerous winds. Trump’s West Palm Beach properties look like escaping it, but at one point were in the firing lines, hence why FEMA is already alerted and prepared for immediate deployment. Hope the hurricane goes further off shore, though. Been in a couple, very scary and a lot of clean up after.
Get out the nukes donald.
The Bahamas are going to get hammered by this thing, but looks like the continental US might dodge a bullet, except maybe N. Carolina where it could briefly make landfall before heading back out to sea. Still going to be rough for coastal areas of Florida, Georgia and S. Carolina but could have been disastrous. Might feel the dying embers of this ourselves in about 10 days, though by then the issue would be heavy rain more than strong winds.
Prepare the nukes, it’s gonna be a big one
For years Florida denied existence of global warming but they cannot deny reality that fossil fuel induced global warming has led to Warmer waters that fuel more powerful Hurricanes and will get worse every year. As Trump goes on a fossil fuel binge and opens over 9 million acres of Alaska forest to developers miners and loggers, destroying the forests that slow down global warming.
@GO GREEN: Florida has had hurricanes for many many years, well before any industrial revolution. I am not a climate change denier, but this is one thing I do not think we can pin on that. Actually, hurricanes seem to have been a lot less there during the past 20 years. I lived there for 10 years, and survived through two hurricanes and two tornado hits. They are scary and very messy. I hope this moves more offshore for them. One of the hurricanes I survived hit a huge chunk of the east shore. It was nasty.
@GO GREEN: climate and weather are different things.
@WoodlandBard: .how do you get residents status ? I wouldn’t mind retiring there but wonder about how to stay longer than 90 days at a time.
@WoodlandBard: I am merely saying that warming waters are fuelling even more powerful hurricanes.
@GO GREEN: There is zero evidence to suggest Atlantic hurricanes are getting stronger or more frequent. NOAA themselves say that the only type of storms that ‘appear’ to have become more frequent since the 1880′s are storms that form and dissipate within 2 or 3 days. This they put down to increased and more accurate observation, ie, satellites can now pick up even the smallest and short-lived tropical depression whereas in the first half of the last century these storms could have formed and died without anyone even noticing. On moderate to severe hurricanes and tropical storms NOAA say that while data suggests a slight drop in the numbers of these storms they say that because the numbers fall within the error margins then the % change since 1880 is zero. This is from the scientific body whose job it is to collect and research the data on Atlantic storms. There are many issues that environmentalists could focus on, but they need to cease with the ” more frequent and stronger hurricanes” rubbish. The data that proves you wrong is too easily accessible and suggest you are, at best, guilty of exaggeration and at worst, you’re just making stuff up.
It’s gas, we panic when we get 90km winds lol… that’s just a normal day over there haha
But don’t worry, you can clean it all up with some paper towels.
@Lisa Saputo: Well Bounty is the stronger soaker upper
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