Uricane Ian is expected to pass west of the Florida Keys late Tuesday and approach the west coast of Florida late Wednesday to Thursday.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned of power outages, as well as possible evacuations and fuel shortages, telling people to “prepare now.”
Here’s what you need to know now:
A hurricane warning is in effect from Bonita Beach to the Anclote River, including Tampa Bay, according to the latest advice from the National Hurricane Center. This means that “hurricane conditions are expected somewhere within the warning zone, in this case within 24 to 36 hours,” the center said.
A tropical storm warning has been issued for the Middle Florida Keys and parts of the east and west coasts of the state.
A tropical storm watch has been issued off the southeast coast of Deerfield Beach as far north as Jupiter Inlet, the hurricane center said.
Mandatory evacuations orders have been issued for parts of Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, and emergency shelters were opened.
“When we issued that mandatory evacuation, what that means is if you don’t do it and call for help, we won’t come because we’re not endangering our people and we’re endangering our people because you don’t” Don’t listen to what we tell you said to do,” Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said.
All along Florida’s west coast, officials are urging residents to steer clear rather than stay to protect their property. Here are some other evacuation orders:
- Evacuation orders also went into effect for low-lying areas of Charlotte County and Sarasota, Hernando and Manatee counties.
- Floridians should expect more evacuations Tuesday for counties north of the bay, inland and some south of the bay, said Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.