Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for most of the state’s Gulf coast on Saturday as forecasters predicted a weather system off the coast of Mexico could soon become a tropical storm and move towards the area.
Mr DeSantis’ declaration covers the Gulf coast from the south-west city of Fort Myers north through Panama City in the Panhandle.
Of the state’s 67 counties, 33 are covered by the declaration.
The National Hurricane Centre says there is a 70% chance the system will become a tropical storm by Monday and a 90% chance overall.
Currently, it would be named “Idalia” if no other tropical storm forms before it.
Forecast models do not show the storm’s centre approaching the areas of south-west Florida where deadly Hurricane Ian struck last year.
It is not immediately clear if the storm would reach hurricane strength or exactly where it will go, but any storm of this nature can cause massive flooding, power outages, coastal storm surge and tornadoes.
Mr DeSantis said that he issued his executive order “out of an abundance of caution to ensure that the Florida Division of Emergency Management can begin staging resources and Floridians have plenty of time to prepare their families for a storm next week”.
He added: “I encourage Floridians to have a plan in place and ensure that their hurricane supply kit is stocked.”
Forecast models have the storm curving to the north east towards Florida, coming ashore along the Gulf coast north of Tampa near the Big Benda area and then heading diagonally across the state to emerge again in the Atlantic Ocean near south-east Georgia.
So far this year, the US east coast has been spared from cyclones but in the West, Tropical Storm Hilary caused widespread flooding, mudslides and road closures earlier this month in Mexico, California, Nevada and points to the north.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently said the 2023 hurricane season would be far busier than initially forecast, partly because of extremely warm ocean temperatures.
The season runs until November 30, with August and September typically the peak.
