As squalls lashed Florida's gulf coast Monday morning and photos and videos of intense weather flood social media feeds, Governor Rick Scott urged Floridians to make good decisions to avoid the peril Tropical Storm Colin may bring as it nears landfall.
The storm covers a lot of area, he noted, so torrential rains, wind gusts, lightning, hail and even tornados are possible many miles away from the storm's path.
“It's broad-based,” he said. “Don't follow the track of the storm.”
In a press conference streamed live on The Florida Channel, Scott declared a State of Emergency in 34 counties throughout the state, and said the storm could bring three to five inches of rain, and as much as eight inches in some place.
And while the brunt of the storm appears to be headed for the Panhandle, much of the state is still at risk. He urged people to stay home if they can, especially as rains intensify later in the afternoon, and, if one must go out, to avoid driving in standing water.
“Every person in our state needs to follow this and be prepared," he said. "We have, with this, the beginning of hurricane season. We live in a peninsula state. It's important for everybody to think about these things and follow what's going on.”
For many Floridians, it's a familiar routine, but those who have moved to the state in droves since 2005 — the last time a hurricane struck Florida — might not have a concrete sense of the impacts severe storms have. And even those that have lived here for over a decade — and plenty of near-misses — may be ambivalent about a looming storm.
Brian Koon, director of Florida Division of Emergency Management, said that just because there have been few storms hitting Florida in recent years (memorably for Tampa Bay, 2012's Tropical Storm Debby and 2013's Tropical Storm Andrea), it doesn't mean Florida is immune to major weather events.
“It's been a while, but this could be the season where we have more impacts than the past,” he said.
And Colin may be causing flooding and intense conditions, but its intensity may pale in comparison to future storms.
“You change a couple of minor things and this storm could be much worse," he said. "The next storm could be much worse.”
Counties listed in Scott's declaration are Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Brevard, Citrus, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Flagler, Franklin, Gilchrist, Hernando, Hillsborough, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lake, Levy, Manatee, Marion, Nassau, Orange, Pasco, Pinellas, Putnam, Sarasota, Seminole, St. Johns, Sumter, Suwannee, Taylor, Union, Volusia and Wakulla.
This article appears in Jun 2-8, 2016.