The center of the storm system is expected to make landfall midweek, likely early Wednesday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The storm system’s center is expected to come ashore in the Tampa Bay area, posing a risk to much of the western coastline and inland Florida. Forecasters say the storm could remain a hurricane as it moves across central Florida.
President Biden signed a disaster declaration Monday for Florida as the storm approaches its coast. Biden’s emergency declaration authorized the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to free up additional resources to assist with the response to the hurricane.
The emergency declaration also means the federal government will provide additional funding to designated counties. Monday’s declaration cited more than three dozen counties likely to be impacted by the storm, including Broward, Hillsborough, Lee, Miami-Dade, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pinellas and Sarasota.
“While it is too soon to specify the exact magnitude and location of the greatest impacts, there is an increasing risk of life-threatening storm surge and damaging winds for portions of the west coast of the Florida Peninsula beginning Tuesday night or early Wednesday,” the National Hurricane Center said in a forecast discussion Sunday.
Read more from our colleagues Sarah Fortinsky, Brett Samuels and Tara Suter at TheHill.com.
