Florida emergency officials prep for Hurricane Isaias
Florida emergency management officials continue to prep for Hurricane Isaias making landfall Friday evening as a major storm near Pensacola, with bands of life-threatening storm surge, winds and tornadoes spreading hundreds of miles to the east.
“Prognosticators are right now saying that it’s potentially going to weaken as it makes landfall. But we at the state level, at the local level, we have been preparing for the impacts of a major hurricane landfall this entire time,” Emergency Management Director Jared Perdue told reporters at the Escambia County Public Safety building Friday morning.
Isaias, approaching major hurricane strength, picked up speed Friday morning and it is expected to make landfall near Pensacola later Friday.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said areas well beyond the center of the storm, especially on the eastern side, will be affected.
“Where it actually makes landfall, anything to the east of that is definitely going to see impacts because the storm is so lopsided,” DeSantis said. “It’s got a lot of stuff on the east, you will see storm surge all the way to the very end of the Florida Panhandle.”
The National Hurricane Center reported that NOAA and Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter data showed a better-defined eye and a shrinking eyewall.
“Our best forecast at this time is for a high-end Category 2 intensity at landfall, which is about the same as before,” the center stated Friday morning. “Regardless of its exact wind speed at landfall, Isaias will be a dangerous hurricane with significant storm surge, damaging winds, and flooding rains. The wind field is also predicted to grow due to a trough interaction, and some of these impacts will extend well away from the center.”
Tolls have been lifted on the Garcon Point Bridge in Santa Rosa County, the Mid-Bay Bridge in Okaloosa County and Spence Parkway in Destin.
The state has activated 175 members of the Florida State Guard and around 5,000 memb
ers of the Florida National Guard. About 6,000 utility workers are also being stationed in the region.
Florida Power & Light President and CEO Scott Bores said the company is coordinating with local officials, securing restoration personnel from other utilities and electrical contracting companies, and positioning its own crews and resources to quickly restore power for customers.
The Port of Pensacola has closed, while the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport has already suspended operations through Saturday. The Pensacola International Airport was suspending operations Friday morning.
According to the National Hurricane Center, as of Friday morning Isaias was about 170 miles south-southeast of the Louisiana coast with 110 mph sustained winds.
Damaging hurricane-force winds are expected across the Panhandle, along with southern Alabama and southern Mississippi.
Life-threatening storm surge is expected from Louisiana to Suwannee, Florida
Once inland, the system is expected to move north, bringing heavy rains to the central U.S., increasing the risk of flooding throughout the weekend.
Residents of low-lying coastal areas throughout the western Panhandle have been ordered to evacuate by local governments. Perdue urged people to heed the orders.
Flooding remains a concern as the region has been saturated by rainfall over the past week.