(The Center Square) – Gov. Ron DeSantis expanded his state of emergency declaration from 41 to 61 counties as Florida braces for a major hurricane landfall.
The two-term Republican governor said he expanded the declaration, which allows local governments to receive assistance from the state before the storm makes landfall, because forecasters predict that Tropical Storm Helene could have significant inland impacts.
DeSantis urged Panhandle and Big Bend residents to be prepared for direct impacts from the storm. An emergengy declaration before landfall was requested of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which he expects to be approved “very quickly.”
Tropical Storm Helene on Tuesday morning was located between the Yucatan Peninsula and the western tip of Cuba. The forecast by the National Hurricane Center is landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida as a Category 3 storm with winds of 120 mph or greater and a storm surge of 10 to 15 feet.
Tropical storm force winds of 35 mph or greater are predicted to occur in a radius of 250 miles, meaning much of the peninsula will feel affects from the storm.
Other forecast models are predicting an even stronger storm.
This would be the third hurricane in 13 months to strike the region. Hurricane Debby, a Category 1 storm, made landfall Aug. 5, 2023, followed 25 days later by Hurricane Idalia, a Category 3 storm.
DeSantis said the Hurricane Center “has never in their history forecast a major hurricane at this stage of development. Part of it, I think this is because there are some similarities to the track taken by Michael.”
That storm was Category 5 storm when it struck Panama City in 2018. Only six hurricanes since 1924 have reached Cat 5 strength – winds of 157 mph or greater – out of the Atlantic Basin. Florida’s southern tip caught the 1935 Labor Day hurricane and Andrew in 1992; the panhandle was Michael’s hit in 2018; and Camille in 1969 came into Mississippi just east of the Louisiana border.
All of the previous landfalls were between Aug. 17 and Sept. 2.
“The thought is once it’s over the Gulf (of Mexico), if it goes west rather than east, it has a chance to have rapid intensification,” DeSantis said. “We prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”
DeSantis urged residents to prepare and not be wedded to the National Hurricane Center’s forecast cones, which show the possibilities for the storm’s circulation center.
He also urged Tampa Bay area residents to prepare for flooding from the storm, which the Hurricane Center says could push 5 to 8 feet of surge into the shallow bay with an average depth of 11 feet despite Helene remaining offshore.
“You can be outside the cone and still have major impacts,” DeSantis said. “Don’t act like the cone has moved another 20 miles to the west and you’re in the clear.”
