The first impacts from Hurricane Michael are just hours away, and Governor Rick Scott was traveling the state Tuesday, warning of the storm’s dangers.
By 1 p.m., Scott had visited three emergency operations centers.
His message was one of pending danger and preparedness.
“Hurricane Michael is a massive storm that could being total devastation to parts of our state,” said Scott.
As Scott spoke at the state EOC, dozens of state and private sector employees worked feverishly to plan for the Michael’s arrival.
“There will be more that needs to get done today than could possibly be done,” said said EOC Director, Wes Maul.
Two thousand national guardsmen have been called up, and the highway patrol sent 300 troopers to help in the Panhandle.
“If the storm hits in Panama City, the Tampa area would still see life threatening storm surge. You can not hide from storm surge,” said Scott.
Except for emergency services, most state and local offices closed.
Tuesday was supposed to be the last day to register to vote, but some counties closed early, and would-be voters in those counties can go back the first day that office is open to register for the November election.
The capital is expecting massive utility outages because of its tree cover.
Under new protocol since Hurricane Hermine in 2016, the city has mutual aid agreements with all of the investor owned utility’s.
Crews from as far away as Tampa Electric were on their way.
“Any day of the week you got 90 lineman who supply our system. You’re talking now six times that number,” said Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum.
