Florida senators Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson joined Gov. Rick Scott Tuesday in asking President Donald Trump to issue a pre-landfall emergency declaration for the state ahead of Hurricane Irma.
Gov. Scott said he made the request earlier Tuesday, as Irma became a dangerous Category 5 storm. Rubio and Nelson wrote a letter to Trump in support of the request.
"As the current projections indicate, this major hurricane will heavily impact Florida communities, and we urge you to immediately approve this request to ensure that full federal resources are made available," the senators' letter read. "While the storm is not predicted to make landfall until later this week, the state and federal government must work together in order to help reduce the potential loss of life and destruction of property. As we recently witnessed with Hurricane Harvey, preparation and up-front resources are paramount."
Nelson said he spoke with the head of FEMA, Brock Long, who said the agency is ready and is pre-positioning people and supplies around the state. Nelson also spoke with the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, who said they are already pre-positioning ships and aircraft to come in if the storm hits.
