Hurricane Dorian Update 8 Am August 29
Treasure Coast, Fl- Here’s the latest on Hurricane Dorian. As of the 5am update, Dorian is a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 85mph. The eye of the storm is located about 150 miles north, northwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The National Hurricane Center currently has Dorian making landfall as a major Category 3 storm just north of us, near Indian River Shores near Gifford. That would put us on the weaker side of the storm. Some models have the storm making landfall south of us. The European model has Dorian making landfall in Boca Raton, then turning north and traveling over Lake Okeechobee. That’s further away from us, but puts our area on the stronger side of the storm. We know the models will change as the storm approaches, but the key is to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. That’s exactly what local governments are doing, including Port St Lucie, which is working on lowering canals in anticipation of a lot of water getting dumped on the area soon.
Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency yesterday for 26 counties, including all of the Treasure Coast, Okeechobee, and Palm Beach County. The governor is advising that people stock up on at least a week’s worth of food and water, and be prepared to evacuate when advised. So what do you need in your survival kit? Make sure to have enough drinking water for 1 gallon per person per day. A 2-week supply of any prescription medications, a manual can opener, cash, a battery-operated radio with extra batteries, flashlights, gas, propane, and anything else you need that might not be available after the storm passes through. How long do you have to prepare? It’s hard to say for sure, but the latest from the National Hurricane Center shows that the earliest reasonable arrival time for tropical storm force winds would be around Saturday evening after 8pm. The most likely arrival time for tropical storm force winds would be Sunday morning after 8am. That means a lot of events over the Labor Day holiday weekend could be affected. Already the high school football games scheduled for Friday evening have been pushed up to tonight.
Some items you should make sure to have on hand include water, non-perishable food items, batteries, gas, and the proper medication. You should also make sure to sign up for any alerts from your local government, have an evacuation plan and be ready to follow it if evacuation orders are given, discuss the plan with your plan and make sure everyone knows what to do, and have copies of all critical documents.
Local schools will have regular schedules for at least today, but all high school football games have been moved from Friday up to tonight. Martin County will host Okeechobee. South Fork will face Fort Pierce Central at Lawnwood Stadium. Port St Lucie hosts West Boca High, and Centennial is on the road at Viera. All games start at 6pm.
If a storm does strike our area and there needs to be food or water distribution, area food banks are getting ready. The Treasure Coast Food Bank showed off its new food prep kitchen in Fort Pierce to Publix employees from around the Treasure Coast Wednesday. The kitchen, which is a hurricane-rated facility, allows the Food Bank to prepare up to 100-thousand meals a day. If needed, food and water locations would be staged at strategic locations throughout Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River and Okeechobee counties. Publix was there to donate more than 200-thousand dollars to the Treasure Coast Food Bank and Palm Beach County Food Bank, as well as other smaller agencies that work to alleviate hunger in our area. September is “Hunger Action Month.”
