The President of the United States, Joe Biden, approved this Sunday the emergency declaration for the state of Florida and ordered federal support for the state and local response to the expected passage of Tropical Storm Ian through the region.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced in a statement that the declaration makes federal emergency assistance available to the state of Florida.
The initiative of the head of state comes after the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, extended the state of emergency to all of Florida on Saturday, given the forecast that Ian will worsen the classification of a hurricane and reach the east coast of Florida. This status. southeastern United States.
DeSantis justified the move with the threat posed by Storm Ian, which “requires timely precautions to be taken to protect Florida’s communities, infrastructure and general welfare.”
The governor urged citizens to prepare for the storm, which is expected to hit large areas of the state with heavy rain, strong winds and sea level rise.
Tropical Storm Ian, expected to become a hurricane, is moving across the Caribbean toward the Cayman Islands on Sunday, on a path expected to take it west of Cuba and the southeastern Gulf of Mexico early this week.
The US National Hurricane Center forecasts that Ian will begin to strengthen rapidly this Sunday due to a system that will cause a risk of cyclonic winds and tides in its path.
Estimates suggest Ian will become a hurricane in the next few hours and a major hurricane by Monday at the latest.
The storm had winds of 85 kilometers per hour on Sunday morning, when it was 555 kilometers southeast of the Cayman Islands.
Source: Observadora
