Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said in an update Friday afternoon that Hurricane Isaias could make landfall east of Pensacola on Friday night and develop into “major” storm conditions.
DeSantis said there were still forecasts that the storm could weaken before making landfall, but at the time of the press conference it was still a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph.
“We’ve been assuming from the beginning that it was going to make landfall as a major hurricane,” DeSantis said. “While there are still some people who think it might weaken, the reality is that it’s very likely that it’s going to make landfall as a major hurricane.” He warned it was a “significant event.”
“But people who are in the path of this storm know that this is not just a random tropical system. This is going to be a severe hurricane and can cause a lot of damage,” he continued, noting that the National Hurricane Center (NHC) has moved the path east of Pensacola. DeSantis said:
If you look at the latest track from the National Hurricane Center, you’ll see that the projected landfall has moved east of Escambia County – with an increasing likelihood of landfall somewhere in Santa Rosa around 11 tonight [and] The Okaloosa County area, maybe somewhere along the border, it might change a little bit, but it’s close enough that people are increasingly confident.
“If it does shift east of Pensacola, the water in the bay there could actually be pushed out, so if you’re on the weaker side of the storm, you could actually get a negative storm surge,” DeSantis added.
watch:
In an advisory issued at 2:00 p.m. ET, the NHC stated that a tropical storm has begun to develop along the northern Gulf Coast, and a storm surge warning is in effect from the mouth of the Mississippi River to the Suwannee River:
At 100 PM CDT (1800 UTC), the center of Hurricane Isaias was located near latitude 28.4 degrees north and longitude 87.2 west. Isaias is moving north-northeast at nearly 16 mph (26 km/h). The movement is expected to continue until tonight before moving north on Saturday. On the predicted trajectory, Isaias expects
It will approach the northern coast of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico this afternoon and make landfall within the warning area tonight.Data from NOAA and Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicated maximum sustained winds remained near 120 mph (195 km/h), with higher gusts. Isaias is a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale. Fluctuations in intensity are possible this afternoon, but Isaias is expected to be at or near severe hurricane strength when it makes landfall tonight. The storm is expected to begin weakening after Isaias makes landfall tonight, and the storm could become a post-tropical storm by late Saturday.
“Hurricane-force winds extend up to 35 miles (55 kilometers) from the center, and tropical storm-force winds extend up to 205 miles (335 kilometers),” the ad said.