Last night, Tropical Storm Isaias (pronounced “ees-ah-EE-ahs”) tightened up its formation and officially became the ninth named storm of the Atlantic Hurricane season.
According to the 8 a.m. advisory from the National Hurricane Center, Isaias’ projected path shifted slightly to the east overnight, and is currently packing 60 mph winds and heavy rain about 125 miles southwest of Ponce, Puerto Rico.
On Thursday, Isaias is expected to bring life-threatening flash floods and high winds over most of the Caribbean U.S. territory, and then become less organized as it moves over the Southern Bahamas by early Friday, says the NHC.
It’s too early to predict exactly where the storm will head over the next few days. However, Isaias is still tracking northwest towards Florida at a speed of 20 mph. As of now, the coastal region of Tampa Bay is no longer in the cone of uncertainty, but forecasters say that could change.
Isias is expected to make landfall in southeast Florida sometime Saturday afternoon.
On Thursday, the Hillsborough County’s Emergency Operations Center sent an alert warning residents to prepare for the storm and review their emergency plans.
Yesterday, the county announced that COVID-19 public testing sites will temporarily close in preparation for Isaias on on Thursday, July 30, including operations at Raymond James Stadium; County community resource centers in east Tampa (Lee Davis), Plant City, and SouthShore; and sites in Brandon, Wimuama, Sun City Center, and Town N Country.
These sites will remain closed until the weather clears early next week, says the county.
Gov. Ron DeSantis took to Twitter Wednesday to inform the state of the current forecasts and encourage Floridians to stock a week’s worth of supplies.
“We are closely monitoring a tropical system with @FLSERT,” said DeSantis. “Forecasts are predicting heavy rainfall and strong winds will impact Florida beginning Saturday through early next week. Floridians should prepare now by having at least 7 days of disaster supplies.”
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This article appears in Jul 30 – Aug 6, 2020.
