Hurricane Dorian churns off Florida’s coast with 110 mph winds, flood advisory issued for parts of Lake, Orange and Volusia

Sep. 4--Hurricane Dorian is moving nearly parallel to Florida as it churns offshore Wednesday morning as a weakened, but still powerful Category 2 storm. Outer bands area dousing Central Florida, bringing tropical storm force winds to the east coast, and worsening conditions to the state's northeastern coast. Forecasters warned of tornado threats and dangerous winds.

At 2 a.m., the deadly storm was located 80 miles east-northeast of Cape Canaveral, moving north-northwest at 7 mph with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph and higher gusts. The move north comes after stalling over and devastating the Bahamas for two solid days.

Hurricane force winds extend out 60 miles from Dorian's core, with tropical storm-force winds extending out 175 miles. Sustained winds of 49 mph with a wind gust of 62 mph were reported late Tuesday at Canaveral Point, while Wednesday morning sustained wind was measured at 45 mph and gusts at 52 mph at the St. Augustine Beach Pier, according to a 2 a.m. update from the National Hurricane Center.

At a buoy about 140 miles east of Cape Canaveral, sustained wind of 65 mph and a gust of 74 mph was recorded, according to a 1 a.m. update from the National Hurricane Center.

Also, the National Weather Service in Melbourne said a flood advisory was in effect for parts of Orange, Lake and Volusia counties as a band of rain dumped between 1 and 2 inches of rain quickly.

"A tornado or two are possible near the immediate east coast of Florida during the next several hours," forecasters said in the NHC's 11 p.m. advisory.

A hurricane warning remains in effect for Sebastian Inlet to Ponte Vedra Beach and hurricane watch north past the Florida-Georgia border.

Thousands were without power in Brevard and Volusia counties as winds came ashore late Tuesday.

"This is going to be riding Florida's coast for the next day, day and a half," Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday afternoon. "We just ask people to stay safe, remain vigilant."

"Not much change in Hurricane Dorian through the evening. It is moving more parallel to the Florida coastline," said WOFL-Fox 35 meteorologist Brooks Tomlin. "Dorian is currently due east of Orlando with northwesterly winds, and winds are already northwesterly in Brevard County. As Dorian continues tracking northward overnight, winds across Central Florida will remain gusty northwesterly and eventually westerly."

The northerly movement comes after relief officials reported scenes of utter ruin Tuesday in parts of the Bahamas and rushed to deal with an unfolding humanitarian crisis, with the full scope of the disaster still unknown. At least seven deaths were reported there.

For those in or north of Central Florida, the National Hurricane Center urged remaining vigilant: "The combined wind, surge, and flood hazards are the same or even worse since the hurricane has become larger."

"There will be considerable impacts and some damage to coastal areas with effects starting to be felt over inland areas as well," the National Weather Service out of Melbourne said in an 8 p.m. statement. "The threat for damaging gusty winds, especially in increasing squalls is high. The threat for life-threatening storm surge is moderate. Severe beach erosion and topping or breaching of the dunes from water runup during high tide, coupled with storm surge will increase around the high tide at midnight tonight and north of the Cape around 1 p.m. on Wednesday."

Cocoa Beach is closed as of Tuesday afternoon, and officials across northeastern Florida are urging people to stay away from all beaches. Volusia County shut down several bridges to traffic from New Smyrna Beach to Ormond Beach.

"Large battering waves and higher than normal tides on top of the surge will add to the destructive force of the water during the high tide cycle around midnight tonight," forecasters said. "Entering the water can be deadly as there will be very large breaking waves building up to 10 feet, in addition to numerous strong rip currents."

"There will be some effects in the state of Florida," Gov. DeSantis said Tuesday from Tallahassee. "There'll be storm surge, there'll be some flooding, you may see wind damage depending on how close this gets. But at the end of the day being safe is the most important."

FEMA announced Tuesday afternoon that over 1,600 employees are deployed or on the way to Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

As hurricane and tropical storm watches, and storm surge warnings and watches, were discontinued for stretches of South Florida's coast, many new hurricane watches and warnings were issued earlier Tuesday for the Carolinas, with multiple threats expected across the southeastern United States.

-- Hurricane Dorian News

Hurricane Dorian: Threat drops in Central Florida to strong winds, rain

By Stephen Hudak

Sep 03, 2019 -- 2:17 PM

"A slightly faster motion toward the northwest or north-northwest is expected through early Wednesday," forecasters said. "A turn toward the north is forecast by Wednesday evening, followed by a turn toward the north-northeast on Thursday morning. On this track, the core of Hurricane Dorian will move dangerously close to the Florida east coast and the Georgia coast through Wednesday night. The center of Dorian is forecast to move near or over the coast of South Carolina and North Carolina Thursday through Friday morning."

"Dorian may have been downgraded to a Category 2 storm but it's still very powerful & destructive," Sen. Rick Scott tweeted shortly after noon Tuesday. "This storm will bring life-threatening storm surge, flooding, & winds. This storm shouldn't be taken lightly."

-- Hurricane Dorian News

Hurricane Dorian's thunderous surf is awesome, fearsome relief to tedium in Brevard County

By Kevin Spear

Sep 03, 2019 -- 3:45 PM

The National Weather Service in Melbourne got reports of "significant coastal flooding and major beach erosion" from Sebastian Inlet south to Saint Lucie Inlet, along the barrier islands and Intracoastal Waterway.

In addition, storm surges of 3 to 5 feet above normal could occur along the coast of Florida and rainfall of 3 to 6 inches with pockets of 10 inches.

Dorian's latest projected path keeps it offshore about 85 miles or more in some parts of Central Florida. The NHC's latest track as of 11 p.m. Tuesday keeps it as a Category 2 hurricane with 110 mph winds off Palm Coast by 8 a.m. Wednesday, and north of Jacksonville by 8 p.m. Wednesday.

"Right now, Dorian may be near or over 100 miles east of our coastline, similar to Hurricane Floyd in 1999," Fox's Tomlin said. "With Hurricane Floyd's passage, Orlando had peak sustained winds of 28 mph, wind gusts near 50 mph and 1.26 inches of rain. However, as Floyd was passing east of Central Florida, it was a stronger hurricane compared to Dorian's forecast strength."

In Florida, the hurricane warning was changed to a tropical storm warning from Sebastian Inlet to Jupiter Inlet; and the tropical storm warning was discontinued south of Jupiter Inlet.

Bahamas devastation

Relief officials reported scenes of utter ruin Tuesday in parts of the Bahamas and rushed to deal with an unfolding humanitarian crisis in the wake of Hurricane Dorian, the most powerful storm on record ever to hit the islands. At least seven deaths were reported, with the full scope of the disaster still unknown.

The storm's punishing winds and muddy brown floodwaters destroyed or severely damaged thousands of homes, crippled hospitals and trapped people in attics.

"It's total devastation. It's decimated. Apocalyptic. It looks like a bomb went off," said Lia Head-Rigby, who helps run a local hurricane relief organization and flew over the Bahamas' hard-hit Abaco Islands. "It's not rebuilding something that was there; we have to start again."

She said her representative on Abaco told her that "there's a lot more dead" and that the bodies were being gathered.

Emergency authorities, meanwhile, struggled to reach victims amid conditions too dangerous even for rescue workers, and urged people to hang on.

"We don't want people thinking we've forgotten them. ... We know what your conditions are. We know if you're stuck in an attic," Tammy Mitchell of the Bahamas' National Emergency Management Agency told ZNS Bahamas radio station.

With their heads bowed against heavy wind and rain, rescuers began evacuating people across Grand Bahama late Tuesday using jet skis, boats and even a huge bulldozer that cradled children and adults in its digger as it cut through deep muddy waters and carried them to safety.

One rescuer gently scooped up an elderly man in his arms and walked toward a pickup truck waiting to evacuate him and others to higher ground.

Red Cross spokesman Matthew Cochrane said more than 13,000 houses, or about 45% of the homes on Grand Bahama and Abaco, were believed to have been severely damaged or destroyed. U.N. officials said more than 60,000 people on the hard-hit islands will need food, and the Red Cross said some 62,000 will need clean drinking water.

"What we are hearing lends credence to the fact that this has been a catastrophic storm and a catastrophic impact," Cochrane said.

Lawson Bates, a staffer for Arkansas-based MedicCorps, flew over Abaco and said: "It looks completely flattened. There's boats way inland that are flipped over. It's total devastation."

The Red Cross authorized a half-million dollars for the first wave of disaster relief, Cochrane said. And U.N. humanitarian teams stood ready to go into the stricken areas to help assess the damage and the country's needs, U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said. The U.S. government also sent a disaster response team.

Abaco and Grand Bahama islands, with a combined population of about 70,000, are known for their marinas, golf courses and all-inclusive resorts. To the south, the Bahamas' most populous island, New Providence, which includes the capital city, Nassau, and has over a quarter-million people, suffered little damage.

The U.S. Coast Guard airlifted at least 21 people injured on Abaco. Rescuers also used jet skis to reach some people as choppy, coffee-colored floodwaters reached roofs and the tops of palm trees.

"We will confirm what the real situation is on the ground," Health Minister Duane Sands said. "We are hoping and praying that the loss of life is limited."

Sands said Dorian rendered the main hospital on Grand Bahama unusable, while the hospital in Marsh Harbor in Abaco was in need of food, water, medicine and surgical supplies. He said crews were trying to airlift five to seven kidney failure patients from Abaco who had not received dialysis since Friday.

The Grand Bahama airport was under 6 feet of water.

NASA satellite imagery through Monday night showed some places in the Bahamas had gotten as much as 35 inches of rain, said private meteorologist Ryan Maue.

Parliament member Iram Lewis said he feared waters would keep rising and stranded people would lose contact with officials as their cellphone batteries died.

Dorian also left one person dead in its wake in Puerto Rico before slamming into the Bahamas on Sunday. It tied the record for the strongest Atlantic storm ever to hit land, matching the Labor Day hurricane that struck Florida Gulf Coast in 1935, before storms were given names.

Central Florida gets ready

FPL, which services most of Florida's east coast counties, reported power outages popping up along the coastal counties. As of 8 p.m. Tuesday, FPL reported more than 10,000 customers without power between Palm Beach and Volusia counties. Winds have to be under 35 mph for FPL trucks to service power outages. The company addressed more than 70,000 power outage calls since Sunday.

In north Lake County, about 2,000 Clay Electric Cooperative customers near Astor lost power Tuesday due to a transmission outage in the area of Barberville in Volusia County. Another 1,600 in Volusia also lost power.

Orlando Utilities Commission said Tuesday it is releasing all of its out-of-state crews to help other areas.

Orlando International Airport shut down early Tuesday morning, and local theme parks cut back hours or closed Tuesday as Central Florida braces for potentially heavy rains and tropical storm force or stronger winds.

Orlando Sanford International Airport, Orlando Melbourne International Airport and Daytona Beach International Airport shut down on Monday.

FlightAware.com reported that that airlines had cancelled 1,361 flights within, into or out of the U.S. by Monday afternoon -- vastly above an average day -- with Fort Lauderdale International the most affected, and airlines had already canceled 1,057 flights for Tuesday, many involving Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Miami airports.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sought to guard against "storm fatigue," urging residents to pay attention to local alerts and evacuation orders, in case the storm jogs west before turning north, as most forecasters predict.

"This has been frustrating, I know, for a lot of people because it seems like we've been talking about this a long time, but we are in a situation where the storm is stalling very close to our coast," DeSantis said from the state Emergency Operations Center. "It is going to make a move, and the movement that it makes is going to have a lot of impacts on Floridians."

In Central Florida, many residents encountered long lines and shortages at some stations as a run on gas took flight as Dorian's magnitude became clear.

Almost a quarter of gas stations in the Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne were without fuel, according to GasBuddy.

Evacuation orders had been issued by most counties for coastal areas from Palm Beach County north to the Florida-Georgia border. Several hospitals were evacuated. In addition, 72 nursing homes and assisted living facilities have been evacuated, with more expected as Dorian moves up the coast.

Orange and Osceola County government offices and courts will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday because of Hurricane Dorian.

Parking fees have been waived in downtown Orlando garages since noon Monday for those looking for an alternative place to park their vehicles. In Kissimmee, overnight parking will be free at Toho Square parking garage, the SunRail/Intermodal parking garage and the Osceola County Courthouse parking garage downtown.

SunRail still plans to be shut down through Friday, and Amtrak has canceled multiple trains through Tuesday. Lynx buses will be up and running on Wednesday and Thursday, Orange County officials said Tuesday.

Local theme parks tweaked hours or announced closures, but Disney added back operating hours at Epcot and Disney Springs for Tuesday.

-- Hurricane Dorian News

Tropical Storm Fernand and new tropical depression form as Hurricane Dorian churns near Florida

By Richard Tribou and Tiffini Theisen

Sep 03, 2019 -- 10:50 PM

Central Florida school systems had already canceled classes for Tuesday, as did area colleges and universities. Brevard County public schools will remain closed through Thursday. The UCF campus is closed through Thursday. Rollins College hopes to reopen Thursday with classes resuming on Friday. Valencia College will be closed through Thursday.

The Orlando Veterans Affairs Healthcare System is providing resources for Central Florida veterans affected by Hurricane Dorian to receive emergency services and prescription medication.

President Trump already declared a state of emergency and was briefed about what he called a "monstrous" storm. He was receiving hourly updates on Labor Day while at his private Virginia golf club, where he spent several hours Monday.

The National Hurricane Center said the track would carry the storm "dangerously close to the Florida east coast late Tuesday through Wednesday evening and then move dangerously close to the Georgia and South Carolina coasts on Wednesday night and Thursday."

-- Hurricane Dorian News

Hurricane Dorian closes some Orlando restaurants, but Waffle House, others stay open

By Austin Fuller

Sep 03, 2019 -- 2:49 PM

While it was expected to stay offshore, meteorologist Daniel Brown cautioned that "only a small deviation" could draw the storm's dangerous core toward land.

A mandatory evacuation of entire South Carolina coast took effect Monday covering about 830,000 people, and transportation officials reversed all lanes of Interstate 26 from Charleston to head inland earlier than planned after noticing traffic jams from evacuees and vacationers heading home on Labor Day, Gov. Henry McMaster said.

A few hours later, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp ordered mandatory evacuations for that state's Atlantic coast, also starting at midday Monday. A reverse traffic or "contraflow" on Interstate 16 began Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Fernand formed in the Gulf of Mexico and Tropical Depression 8 in the far east Atlantic on Tuesday afternoon.

Staff writers Gray Rohrer, Ricky Pinela, Lisa Maria Garza, Tess Sheets, Dave Harris, Stephen Hudak, Roger Simmons, Matt Palm, Cristobal Reyes and Ryan Gillespie and the Associated Press contributed to this story.

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