Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Said The State Is Prepared For Hurricane Isaias Impacts

TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami) - President Donald Trump has approved a request made by Governor Ron DeSantis for a pre-landfall emergency declaration for the counties in the path of Hurricane Isaias.

The emergency declaration will help the state respond quickly to any impacts from the storm by providing federal reimbursement assistance through FEMA.

At a news conference at the state's Emergency Operations Center of Saturday morning, Desantis said the state's east coast can expect impacts from the storm.

"Right now they say it is off the coast, but this stuff is all, you know, very much in flux. And even if the eye of the storm stays off the coast, there, of course, are going to be impacts when you're talking about hurricanes or tropical storms, storm force winds, so folks need to be prepared for that," he said.

The governor said people in evacuation zones need to heed the warnings if they are told to leave.

"Hurricane warnings are in effect from Boca Raton to the Volusia-Flagler county line and the National Hurricane Center is also predicting a potential storm storm surge of two to four feet from Jupiter Inlet all the way up north to Ponte Vedra Beach," said DeSantis.

DeSantis said the state's Division of Emergency Management is sending 25 shelter kits with PP to counties in the path of the storm. Each kit provides PP for up to 400 people for 96 hours. The state can send more if needed.

"The division is also identifying pre=staging areas for power restoration crews and has already pre-stage 1.8 million meals. FDOT has mobilized pumps to respond to potential flooding. And the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has Special Operations Group members on standby to move into hurricane Isaias impacted areas in support of Urban Search and Rescue teams if that were to be necessary," said DeSantis.

The governor said he wants people to be very cognizant that this thing is on the way.

"Now, obviously remain calm, but listen to the instructions as they come down. Everyone should at this point, who's in the potential path of this have enough food, water, and medicine the last seven days. If you haven't done that, you know, you still have time to do it. But we really recommend that you finish those preparations immediately," he said.