Gov. Scott declares a state of emergency
As Hurricane Irma intensifies, Floridians stock up on supplies
Sofia Burton and her family don’t usually drink bottled water. But on Monday afternoon, she and her husband lugged two jugs and four cases of bottles outside the Publix at Colonialtown.
The couple and their 14-month-old daughter joined many other Central Florida residents preparing for Hurricane Irma’s potential landfall in Florida this week.
The storm grew in intensity from a Category 3 to a Category 4 Monday as it approached the Caribbean, where it is expected to strike today.
Even before Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency in all of Florida’s 67 counties about 5 p.m., residents began stocking up on supplies. Water shelves at several Publix stores were empty. Generators were sold out by mid-afternoon at The Home Depot on Co-
lonial Drive east of Sermoran Boulevard.
“We definitely started seeing an uptick [in shoppers],” Home Depot spokesman Matt Harrigan said.
Late Monday, Attorney General Pam Bondi activated a price-gouging hotline. State law prohibits undue increases on the price of food, water, hotels, ice, gasoline, lumber and other supplies needed in an emergency. The number is 866-966-7226.
Modeling by the National Hurricane Center shows the outer bands of the slowmoving, potentially dangerous storm, with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph, lashing Key West and Miami by 2 p.m. Saturday.
Scott’s declaration gives local governments the time and resources to prepare for a possible hit, he said. President Donald Trump “offered the full resources of the federal government” during a phone call at 10:20 p.m. Monday, Scott wrote in a tweet.
“The state of emergency allows our emergency management officials to act swiftly in the best interest of Floridians without the burden of bureaucracy or red tape,” Scott said in a statement.
Burton said she and her husband were preparing to house family members from South Florida. Her motherin-law, who lives in Parkland near the Everglades, has struggled to find water in stores.
“We don’t want family having to worry about bringing their own water,” Burton, 27, said.
There is no reason to fret about sold-out supplies, Harrigan said. Home Depot distribution centers are stocked before hurricane season, so products, such as plywood, generators and batteries, can be sent to stores within the storms’ projected paths, he said.
“Our merchandise and supplies teams are working to make sure those are replenished as quickly as possible,” Harrigan said.
As of 11 p.m. Monday, hurricane warnings were in effect for Antigua, Barbuda, Anguilla, Montserrat, St. Kitts, Nevis, Saba, St. Eustatius, Sint Maarten, Saint Martin, Saint Barthelemy, the British Virgin Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Vieques and Culebra.
The storm was about 410 miles east of the islands.
A warning is usually issued within 36 hours of anticipated impact.
The National Hurricane Center said Puerto Rico could get as much as 4 feet of rain on the northern coast. The rain could cause lethal flash floods and mudslides, according to forecasters.
More hurricane and tropical storm watches may be issued today.
Dennis Feltgen of the National Hurricane Center in Miami said it was still too early to determine the impact on Florida.
“But people should use this time wisely to check their supplies and review their hurricane plan,” he said.
The National Weather Service said Puerto Rico could get prolonged high winds and as many as 8 inches of rain if the storm smacks the island Wednesday, as expected.
No hurricane warnings or watches have been issued in the continental U.S., but storm experts are monitoring Irma.
Irma is considered a “Cape Verde hurricane,” which frequently become some of the largest and most intense storms. Hurricanes Hugo, Floyd and Ivan were Cape Verdes, forming in the far eastern Atlantic — near the Cape Verde Islands — and tracking across the ocean.
Irma comes at the peak of hurricane season and follows Hurricane Harvey, which devastated much of the Texas Gulf Coast after it made its first landfall Aug. 25. Jessie Smith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Melbourne, said comparisons shouldn’t be drawn between Harvey and Irma.
Harvey developed in the Caribbean Sea, weakened over the Yucatán Peninsula and essentially redeveloped to a Category 4 hurricane in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico about two or three days before it hit Texas, Smith said. Irma already is a Category 4 hurricane about five days away from its possible landfall in Florida.
“This is a different storm with likely ... different impacts, but at this time, we just don’t know what the impacts on Florida will be,” Smith said.