Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis expressed relief that Hurricane Dorian's track changed before hitting the state, telling reporters Thursday, "we hoped for the best, but we had to prepare for the worst."
"Hurricane Dorian was a close call for Florida. We had a storm that had a ferocity like which we've not really seen at 185 mile per hour winds, very low barometric pressure and that was wreaking havoc 100 miles -120 miles off Florida's east coast," DeSantis said at a news conference.
He thanked state residents for being making preparations to deal with the hurricane.
"This was a storm where we had a cone of uncertainty last week covering almost the entire state of Florida and people weren't sure what direction it was going to take," he said.
Hurricane Dorian is currently swirling off the South Carolina coast, kicking up surf and sending howling winds through Charleston.
The storm's maximum sustained winds Thursday morning were near 110 mph.
Earlier this week, Dorian left wide devastation and at least 20 dead in striking the northern Bahamas.
DeSantis said his state stood ready to help the Bahamas recover and is planning to send water to affected areas.
