TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis said emergency management officials across the state are coordinating to respond to Hurricane Dorian's impact.
The governor said he is in close contact with the White House and FEMA, and spoke to President Donald Trump about preparing resources ahead of the storm.
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"[The President] reiterated he is just going to provide whatever resources we need to weather Dorian," DeSantis said. "This is a storm that could impact multiple states at this point but FEMA is fully engaged here in Florida and we appreciate that."
DeSantis said a major concern is power restoration in the event of outages. He reassured that Florida Power and Light have created a plan to respond. FPL has assembled 17,000 personnel that are pre-staged and ready to respond after severe weather hits, according to DeSantis.
Along Florida's coast, 72 nursing homes and assisted living facilities and have been evacuated as of Monday morning.
The governor said some hospitals have evacuated, while others expected to be impacted by Hurricane Dorian have started procedures to evacuate. Most of those hospitals in the preliminary evacuation stages are in Volusia County. Others have opted for partial evacuations.
The governor assured gas stations along evacuation routes will remain open. Gas stations in evacuation zones will likely be closed.
He emphasized Dorian's track is a fluid situation and plans will change -- but state agencies will respond accordingly.
The cone of potential pathways still includes much of the state, and DeSantis says if residents are within that cone they should be prepared.
"Looking at these forecasts, a bump in one direction or the other could have really significant ramifications in terms of impact. If it bumps further east, that obviously is positive. If it bumps just a little west, than you're looking at really, really significant impacts. Don't make any assumptions, remain vigilant and be prepared," DeSantis said at a briefing Saturday morning.
As we continue to monitor #Dorian, all Floridians should follow local reports and all evacuation orders. We are ready to deploy assets as needed and will continue to monitor traffic and fuel levels as more counties come under hurricane watches & warnings. https://t.co/QoSEQojXh1
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) September 2, 2019
According to Dorian's current track, conditions are expected to deteriorate late Monday with the worst of the weather from the storm arriving through the day Tuesday and Wednesday.