Governor Jeb Bush has declared a state of emergency in Florida, with Hurricane Ernesto expected to make landfall around Fort Myers on Wednesday. The Category 1 storm is just off the coast of Haiti now, and is expected to dump rain and trigger mudslides on the wretchedly deforested half-island there. After that, it will trash southeastern and central Cuba, before heading into the Gulf, and presumably, Florida, by this time becoming a Category 3. It might go somewhere else, but this is what we know. Miami is going to see a ton of thunder and rain out of this, and might not completely be out of danger. I have not heard from Val or George or Amanda or Henry or Robert yet, but it’s reasonable to think they are very busy right now, getting ready for the storms as this thing passes overhead by about Tuesday. Let’s hope for the best and say a prayer for them
Via Free Republic, I found the Jeb Bush announcement here, and a Fox News story updating the matter here.
Official National Hurricane Center updates can be found here.
See George’s map-post above, here.