Gov. Jeb Bush warned Floridians to take a potential Category 1 hurricane slamming into the state this week seriously and that the state is preparing for a Category 2 storm during a hurricane briefing Monday.

"Hurricanes are hurricanes," Bush said. "We start thinking, well a Category 3 storm, boy that is bad and I better take this seriously and anything below that, not that important. That is the wrong attitude. We have been hit by so many hurricanes that I think people start thinking they have the capability of underwriting the risks based on whether the storm is a Cat 1, Cat 2 or Cat 3."

Bush reminded viewers that a Cat. 1 Katrina caused problems for the state last year.

"Katrina hit Florida before it hit the Gulf Coast," Bush said. "It was a Cat 1 storm -- people died because they were out in the midst of the storm thinking it wasn't a potent storm. It created a lot of hardship for residents of South Florida just as other storms that had been Category 1 had done. We are planning for a Category 2 storm."

Central Florida Remains In Path

The latest projected path for Ernesto shows the storm heading into South Florida as a strong Tropical Storm and then possibly strengthening into a Category 1 storm over Bevard County, Fla., according to Local 6 News meteorologist Larry Mowry said.

"It may ramp up to a hurricane before it makes landfall in South Florida during Tuesday night into early Wednesday morning," Mowry said.

The track of the storm shifted east again Monday and the path showed Ernesto passing through Brevard County Wednesday.

"At this point, the storm has the possibility of being over Brevard County as a Category 1 hurricane during the afternoon hours on Wednesday and then it will lift northward through the overnight hours Wednesday night into Thursday morning," Mowry said.

Bush Issues State Of Emergency

With state and local officials urging Floridians to be ready, Tropical Storm Ernesto edged closer Monday to the peninsula as Miami, Fort Lauderdale and the Keys were under a hurricane watch.

A watch from Deerfield Beach southward on the east coast and from Chokoloskee southward on the west coast was issued at 5 a.m., meaning hurricane conditions of at least 74 mph are possible within 36 hours. The Keys were put under a watch on Sunday afternoon.

Gov. Jeb Bush issued a state of emergency Sunday for all of Florida, because forecasters said Ernesto could potentially threaten a large swath of the state by late in the week. Immediate concern, though, centered on the Keys, where visitors were ordered out and plans were enacted to evacuate special-needs residents to Miami.

In the Keys, three shelters were set to open Monday. All travel trailers and recreational vehicles were ordered out of the Keys, and mobile home residents were also urged to evacuate.

Some residents of the low-lying island chain flocked to grocery stores and home-supply warehouses to stock up on canned goods, bottled water and other storm essentials.

"Key Westerners are used to this," said Jim Bernard, assistant manager at a Home Depot in Key West.

At 11 a.m. EDT, Ernesto was about 35 miles west-northwest of of Guantanamo, Cuba.

Ernesto was 1 mph above the threshhold to be a hurricane Sunday, but weakened as it plodded toward Cuba's southeastern corner. Still, the hurricane center cautioned that Ernesto may strengthen significantly as it moves toward Florida.

"I don't want anyone to overly focus on the downgrading. ... It has a good chance to regain hurricane status," said Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center.

The state of emergency directs counties to activate their emergency management offices and activates the National Guard, among other things. Bush canceled several meetings scheduled in New York Monday, and will remain in Tallahassee to monitor storm developments.

Ernesto lashed Haiti and the Dominican Republic with heavy rain Sunday and threatened to bring as much as 20 inches of rain to parts of Haiti, prompting fears of mudslides and flooding. The storm was expected to move over Cuba, then bring rain and wind toward Florida, forecasters said.

"You don't know where to go. You don't know where it's going to blow," said tourist Jim Rogers of Lodi, N.J., who spent Sunday preparing to leave the Keys. "You don't want to be in Key West."

Florida's emergency management center in Tallahassee was partially activated Sunday, and several counties around the state were expected to follow suit Monday. Emergency officials encouraged people across the state to monitor the storm, check emergency supplies and disaster plans -- a familiar theme, considering seven hurricanes have hit Florida and one has brushed by in the past two years.

"Ernesto bears watching," said Mike Stone, spokesman for the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.