Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency today as a tropical weather system bore down on the state’s Gulf Coast, according to a Reuters report.
The system could bring life-threatening flooding, according to Reuters. Parts of the Florida Gulf Coast have been placed under a tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch.
Scott declared an emergency in 42 of Florida’s 67 counties as a weather system expected to become a tropical storm heads toward the state. The storm is expected to make landfall on the north-central Gulf Coast late Thursday or early Friday and move across the northern part of the state and up the Atlantic Coast, according to Reuters.
Parts of Florida were already getting drenched by heavy rains this morning, Reuters reported. The storm could bring as much as 20 inches to the northern and central parts of the state.
Currently, the weather system is an unnamed tropical depression with 35 mile-per-hour winds 00 although higher gusts could approach hurricane strength, Reuters reported.
In the Pacific, residents of Hawaii’s Big Island were also preparing for a storm Wednesday as the government issued a hurricane warning. Gov. David Ige has ordered state offices closed in preparation for Hurricane Madeline, which is expected to pass over the island today.
