Florida declares state of emergency as Hurricane Dorian picks up speed towards state

Hurricane Dorian picked up speed as it passed Puerto Rico on Wednesday afternoon, according to the National Hurricane Centre. It could make landfall in Florida on Monday as a Category 3 storm.

The newly formed hurricane was about 45 miles northwest of St Thomas as of the 5pm update, which showed Dorian has maximum sustained winds of 80mph and picked up the pace a bit, moving west at 14mph. The new update tilted the storm’s potential landfall slightly more south along the Florida coastline.

“All indications are that by this Labour Day weekend, a powerful hurricane will be near or over the Florida peninsula,” NHC forecasters wrote.

As Hurricane Dorian neared a likely Florida landfall, Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency Wednesday afternoon for 26 counties in the storm’s path, spanning the east coast from Duval to Monroe counties. The state Emergency Operations Centre is also activating to Level 2, he announced, bringing in more emergency management staff to coordinate a response to the storm.

“It’s important for Floridians on the East Coast to monitor this storm closely,” DeSantis said in a statement, urging Floridians to have seven days of supplies on hand. “I will continue to monitor Hurricane Dorian closely with emergency management officials. The state stands ready to support all counties along the coast as they prepare.”