South Florida under tropical storm watch as Isaias approaches
The National Hurricane Center said Isaias could approach Florida as a Category 1 hurricane on Saturday. Miami-Dade will close all county parks, beaches, marinas, golf courses and the Deering Estate at 8 tonight.
South Florida was put under a tropicalstorm watch Thursday with Isaias expected to approach Florida and the Bahamas as a Category 1 hurricane by Saturday.
On Thursday evening, Miami-Dade County announced that county parks, beaches, marinas, golf courses and the Deering Estate will be closed at 8 tonight and all of Saturday, and possibly Sunday.
The center of Isaias, which was still a tropical storm early Thursday night, is forecast to be near the Central Bahamas tonight and move near or over the Northwestern Bahamas and near South Florida on Saturday.
The storm crossed the mountains of Hispaniola on Thursday while flooding roads and homes in Puerto Rico and blowing away roofs in Haiti.
The NHC on Thursday afternoon ordered a tropical-storm watch from Ocean Reef northward to Sebastian Inlet, and the government of the Bahamas issued a hurricane warning for the Northwestern Bahamas, which includes the Abacos Islands, Grand Bahamas Island and Andros Island.
Forecasters cranked up the intensity prediction a notch to at least a Category 1 hurricane by Saturday morning as it moves through the Bahamas. The impact on South Florida will depend both on the storm’s strength and its proximity to the coast — both still uncertain measures. “It still needs to be stressed that there is a higher than usual amount of uncertainty in the intensity forecast,” forecasters
wrote early Thursday evening.
Water temperatures along Isaias’ predicted path are running three to four degrees above normal, which could fuel a stronger storm. Higher sea-surface temperatures are one of the main ways climate change is affecting hurricane formation, and the record-setting heat recently seen in this region is one reason scientists predicted this would be an active hurricane season.
At a Thursday evening press conference, Gov. Ron DeSantis urged Floridians to be prepared with seven days’ worth of food, water and medicine: “While we can’t be certain of the exact track of the storm, and we certainly can’t be sure about the intensity it’s expected to reach, we do expect to see impacts to the state of Florida, even if the storm remains off our shore, which is the current forecast.”
As of Thursday evening, the National Weather Service predicted that Miami’s peak winds could be 23 mph with 34 mph gusts around 1 a.m. Saturday. In Fort Lauderdale, they could be 20 mph with 30 mph gusts Saturday around 7 a.m.
Neither Miami-Dade nor the state plan to open shelters due to Thursday’s projections, dodging — for now — a test of the efficacy of plans to enforce COVID screening and social distancing within hurricane shelters. “We have 20 shelters basically on stand-by. We’ve sent the equipment that’s needed to open them,” Mayor Carlos Gimenez said in an online press conference Thursday from the county’s Emergency
Operations center in Doral before the NHC upped Isaias to a likely hurricane. ”At this point, we’re not opening them,” he said. “We may pull the trigger on opening some shelters, depending on the forecast strength and the direction.”
The Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department said Thursday night that it will evaluate for possible reopening on Sunday.
Roman Gastesi, Monroe County administrator, said the Keys will likely close its government offices today but that no evacuations were planned.
EFFECTS IN CARIBBEAN
Thursday in Port-dePaix, in Haiti’s northwest region, tops were blown off houses by Isaias’ winds.
In Puerto Rico, Isaias’ heavy rain flooded streets and homes and caused landslides that blocked mountain roads. Municipalities in the center of the island saw flash flooding. Close to the coast in Mayagüez, the Yagüez river flooded, leaving thousands of homes underwater. The 60 mph winds and higher gusts blew over trees and power lines. According to the Electric Energy Authority of Puerto Rico, around 400,000 families were without power Thursday morning, which represents 25% of its clients.