Isaias rain nears virus-hit Florida

St. Petersburg, Aug. 2: Early bands of heavy rain from Isaias lashed Florida’s east coast before dawn on Sunday as authorities warily eyed the approaching storm, which threatened to snarl efforts to quell surging cases of the Coronavirus across the region.

Isaias weakened from a hurricane to a tropical storm late Saturday afternoon, but was expected to regain hurricane strength overnight as it barreled toward Florida. “Don’t be fooled by the downgrade,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned during a news conference on Saturday after the storm — pronounced eesah-EE-ahs — spent hours roughing up the Bahamas.

Florida authorities closed beaches, parks and virus testing sites, lashing signs to palm trees so they wouldn’t blow away. The governor said the state is anticipating power outages and asked residents to have a week's supply of water, food and medicine on hand.

Officials wrestled with how to prepare shelters where people can seek refuge from the storm if necessary, while safely social distancing to prevent the spread of the virus.

In Palm Beach County, about 150 people were in shelters, said emergency management spokeswoman Lisa De La Rionda.

The county has a voluntary evacuation order for those living in mobile or manufactured homes, or those who feel their home can’t withstand winds. “We don’t anticipate many more evacuations,” she said, adding that the evacuees are physically distant from each other and are wearing masks, due to the Coronavirus pandemic.