Florida

Caution Urged Despite ‘Cone of Concern' Leaving South Florida

What to Know

  • Even as Hurricane Dorian is not forecast to strike Florida until early next week, residents in South Florida were not wasting time preparing

Despite Hurricane Dorian's trajectory shifting north and out of Miami-Dade and Broward, officials in the counties urge precaution.

Broward County and Miami-Dade County are no longer in Dorian's "Cone of Concern."

However, South Florida will still receive indirect impacts from the storm system.

The county governments are anticipating significant effects from Dorian as they announced respective emergency declarations Friday.

Miami-Dade County's mayor announced he signed the emergency declaration due to Dorian's path on Friday while the city of Miami Beach is opening all city garages for residents starting Saturday morning.

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Broward County declared a local state of emergency at 2 p.m. Friday. The declaration would allow the Broward County's administration the power to direct an evacuation, impose a curfew and require businesses to close.

The Broward Emergency Operations Center was on Level 2, a planning and preparation mode. At Level 1, the county would likely order evacuations and open shelters.

The city of Davie will provide sandbags to residents on Saturday at Pine Island Park, located at 3801 South Pine Island Road while supplies last.

"As far as when they'll open we'll know better tomorrow but if I had to guess I think we're looking closer to Sunday if anything," Broward Mayor Mark Bogen said. "We can require certain business to close that we may consider to be in a dangerous area. We can require public places to close, buildings, beaches, parks, schools."

In Downtown Hollywood, businesses began the process of boarding up windows.

"We're very optimistic thinking it's going to go north, but you don't fight Mother Nature," business owner Solomon Mishaan said.

Up in West Palm Beach, where Dorian was being forecast to make landfall, some homeowners said they were just trying to avoid anxiety and stress.

"You have to do your best to be prepared and I got some supplies a few days ago and being anxious is not going to do anything, being calm is important," Laura Rhodes said.

In the Florida Keys, officials on Friday said they were not ordering a mandatory visitor evacuation, but said they were encouraging visitors to leave the island chain if they have the means to do so.

South Floridians remember well the lessons of Hurricane Irma two years ago. The ferocious storm took an unexpected turn and forced some families to reroute evacuation plans.

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