Coastal regions from Florida to Virginia on Tuesday afternoon remained on the lookout for Hurricane Dorian. With hurricane and storm surge watches and warnings lining the coast, officials are preparing residents for the worst. The first tropical storm force wind gust was recorded along the Treasure Coast of Florida on Tuesday afternoon at a station by the Sebastian Inlet.
After dealing a heavy hand of destruction to the Bahamas, Dorian weakened into a Category 2 storm Tuesday, with 110-mph sustained winds. But forecasters warn that even though the wind speeds are weakening, the storm still poses extreme danger to the southern coast of the United States.
The crawling, slow progress of the storm allowed Dorian to spend more than 24 hours dumping rain and whipping intense winds across the island nation. Dozens of people are still missing and the total death toll is expected to be catastrophic.
In the southeastern U.S., evacuations for more than two million people began on Monday afternoon. Governors from Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia all signed state of emergencies and called for mandatory evacuations.
Both the storm surge warning and the storm surge watch were extended farther north, with the warning now reaching South Santee River in South Carolina and the watch now reaching Cape Lookout in North Carolina.
In Florida, the storm surge watch and warning have been canceled in Jupiter Inlet and Lantana. The hurricane watch from Deerfield Beach to Jupiter Inlet was also canceled.
In North Carolina, a hurricane warning was issued for the coast of South Carolina from north of Edisto Beach to the South Santee River while a hurricane watch was issued from north of South Santee River to Duck.
Despite the mandatory evacuations, some residents in New Smyrna, Florida, have decided to wait out the storm.
(AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
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Volunteers wade through a road flooded by Hurricane Dorian as they work to rescue residents near the Causarina bridge in Freeport, Grand Bahama, Bahamas, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2019. The storm’s punishing winds and muddy brown floodwaters devastated thousands of homes , crippled hospitals and trapped people in attics.
“People who work and live here on the beach who have decided to stay behind; they tell me that they are a bit concerned with the real threat of storm surge,” AccuWeather Correspondent Bill Waddell reported. “Especially because of the speed that Dorian is moving with right now.”
“It is likely, there's been a lot of flooding down where I’m at, that’s what I’m more concerned about than anything,” Jen Pridemore, a New Smyrna Beach resident, said.
About one hour north up the Florida coast, residents in America's oldest city, St. Augustine, braced for the impacts of Hurricane Dorian. As one resident put it, a sense of the inevitable has set in there, even if landfall never happens.
"We're just in one of those towns that when a hurricane comes close to us with a six- or eight-foot surge, yes, everything's going to flood," Steven Drake said on Monday. "In a storm like this, the water comes up, and there's nowhere for it to go."
Scenes from all around St. Augustine on Monday showed businesses boarded up and fortified by sandbags as Dorian hovered a little more than 100 miles off Florida's Atlantic coast.
The effects of the hurricane have already made a large impact on many in the Southeast several days before the storm had even arrived. In Florida, a Rolling Stones concert had to be rescheduled in Miami, a college football game in Jacksonville had to be relocated to Tallahassee and Walt Disney World made the decision to close all of its parks at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, a rare decision for the company who has only closed three times since 1971, according to CNBC.
Even though the eye wall of the storm is expected to remain offshore, powerful winds and tropical storm conditions along the Florida and Georgia coasts are expected during the first half of the week. Dorian is forecast to slowly weaken along much of its northeastward route from Georgia to North Carolina waters. The hurricane is likely to be a Category 3 off the northeastern Florida coast on Tuesday night and a Category 1 near North Carolina during Friday morning.
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6:55 p.m. EDT Tuesday:
Winds are increasing along Florida's east coast, approaching hurricane-force in some areas.
6:08 p.m. EDT Tuesday:
A waterspout or tornado is possible just south of Palm Bay as a rain band associated with Hurricane Dorian moves onshore. People in the area need to seek shelter immediately.
5:20 p.m. EDT Tuesday:
Dorian continues to inch northwest-ward at 6 mph with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph. The hurricane warnings for the coast of the southeastern U.S. have been extended northward into North Carolina. this includes areas around Wilmington, North Carolina.
3:55 p.m. EDT Tuesday:
Conditions are slowly deteriorating along Florida's east-central coast as Dorian slowly shifts toward the northwest. Tropical storm-force winds have been observed from Jacksonville to near Miami as the outer bands from Dorian track over Florida.
Airports across the area are closed, including Orlando International Airport.
2:50 p.m. EDT Tuesday:
Approximately 244,000 people have evacuated coastal areas of South Carolina that are expected to be impacted by Hurricane Dorian, according to the South Carolina Secretay of Transportation Christy Hall. This is around one-third of the total population of the areas under evacuation orders.
2:28 p.m. EDT Tuesday:
The Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and North Perry Airport in South Florida resumed operations at noon Tuesday.
In Orlando, the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority has fully activated the airport's emergency operations center. The airport closed at 2 a.m. Tuesday.
Hurricane #Dorian Statement - 9/3/19 Afternoon
Orlando International Airport continues pre-hurricane preparations.
The latest update will always be pinned to top of our page. Passengers: Please check with your airline for updates regarding your specific flight.
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According to flight tracking service FlightAware, more than 700 flights have been canceled in Orlando on Tuesday, while nearly 200 have already been canceled on Wednesday.
1:07 p.m. EDT Tuesday
The first tropical storm force wind gusts have been recorded along the Treasure Coast of Florida. A station at the Sebastian Inlet recorded a gust of 49 mph.
12:23 p.m. EDT Tuesday
According to the National Hurricane Center, the most likely times for Dorian's winds to arrive over the next three days are on Tuesday night in Florida, Wednesday in Georgia, late Wednesday in South Carolina and Thursday in North Carolina.
10:59 a.m. EDT Tuesday
Dorian has weakened to a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained wind speeds recorded at 110 mph. A Storm Surge Warning has also been extended northward to South Santee River in South Carolina, while a Storm Surge Watch is in effect for Cape Lookout, North Carolina.
10:30 a.m. EDT Tuesday
Myrtle Beach International Airport and Charleston International Airport are remaining open and operating as usual, per their websites.
"We are working closely with the Air Force monitoring the latest weather conditions, as well as our airline tenants, and will update travelers of any closures," Charleston states on its homepage. "We strongly recommend that passengers stay in direct contact with their airlines for up to date information on flight cancellations."
9:15 a.m. EDT Tuesday
In Florida, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Orlando Melbourne International Airport, Daytona Beach International Airport and Orlando International Airport are closed, as over 400 total flights were canceled from the major airports, according to Flight Aware.
"In close consultation with the National Weather Service, airlines and airport stakeholders, airport leadership has determined it is in the best interest of the Orlando International Airport passengers and employees to cease operations," the Orlando International Airport said in a statement posted on Twitter. "Because of the uncertainty of the storm's track and the need to complete storm preparations by airport and air carriers, airport executive leadership has determined ceasing commercial operations is necessary."
4 a.m. EDT Tuesday
Dorian continues to remain nearly stationary along the northern shores of Grand Bahama Island. Citizens of Freeport continue to feel the effects of the southwest side of the eye wall. The 4 a.m. National Hurricane Center has kept Dorian a strong category 3 hurricane with top sustained winds of 120 mph.
2 a.m. EDT Tuesday
The 2 a.m. National Hurricane Center update keeps Hurricane Dorian as a powerful category 3 hurricane, with winds topping 120 mph. The storm continues to remain stationary as it continues to pound Grand Bahama Island.
1 a.m. EDT Tuesday
The 1 a.m. National Hurricane Center update has downgraded Hurricane Dorian to a powerful Category 3 storm with winds of 125 mph. The storm is still stationary along the northern coast of Grand Bahama Island. Sustained winds of 47 mph have also been reported along the Juno Beach Pier in northern Palm County, Florida. This marks the first arrival of tropical storm-force winds in Florida.
11 p.m. EDT Monday
Dorian is about 30 miles north-northeast of Freeport, Grand Bahama Island, and about 100 miles east of West Palm Beach, Florida. The hurricane has maximum sustained winds of 130 mph, which ranks the storm as a Category 4, however if it weakens by 1 mph it will be a Category 3 hurricane.
The hurricane has been stationary since 5 p.m. EDT Monday.
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