Tropical storm Isaias that formed in the south of Puerto Rico may be upgraded to a Hurricane on Friday and may near Florida on the weekend, weather forecasters predict.
Tropical storm Isaias is the ninth storm of 2020. According to the National Hurricane Center, Isaias will strengthen over the next 24 to 36 hours and become a hurricane on Friday or Friday night.
As of Thursday evening, the storm was spotted about 45 miles west-northwest of the Dominican Republic at 20 mph.
The storm will travel in the vicinity of Southern Bahamas on Thursday night, then near the central Bahamas, and he is expected to be near South Florida on Saturday.
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Hurricane Warning, Tropical Storm Warning, and Tropical Storm Watch
The Bahamas issued a hurricane warning for the northwestern Bahamas. Areas in Northwestern Bahamas with hurricane warning include Andros Island, New Providence, Eleuthera, Abacos Islands, Berry Islands, Grand Bahamas Island, and Bimini.
The hurricane warning indicates that hurricane conditions are expected in the areas mentioned above. Advice such as this is issued 36 hours before the anticipated tropical strong force winds make preparations difficult or dangerous. Preparations to protect life and property in anticipation of the Hurricane's coming should be completed.
A tropical storm warning is in effect in Dominican Republic entire southern and northern coastlines; North coast of Haiti from Le Mole St Nicholas eastward to the northern border with the Dominican Republic; Turks and Caicos Islands; Southeastern Bahamas including the Acklins, Crooked Island, Long
Cay, the Inaguas, Mayaguana, and the Ragged Islands; Central Bahamas, including Cat Island, the Exumas, Long Island, Rum Cay, and San Salvador.
Tropical storm warnings are issued to alarm people that tropical storm conditions are expected within the warning area in the next 36 hours.
Meanwhile, a Tropical Storm Watch, which means tropical storm conditions should be expected within the watch area within 48 hours, was issued on the east coast of Florida from Ocean Reef to Sebastian Inlet.
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A Disaster Within a COVID-19 Pandemic Hotspot
As of July 30, Florida's Department of Health has reported 461,370 cases and 6,709 deaths. The state has a fatality rate of 1.45 percent. Dr. Aileen M. Marty, professor of infectious diseases at Florida International University in Miami, admitted that the state is really bad. The state reports an average of 154 deaths per day or 1,077 total in the last seven days.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Giménez articulated his concern about maintaining social distancing among evacuees to curb the spread of COVID-19 should a major hurricane hit the state.
"Look, if we have a major hurricane here, then we're going to have to evacuate a number of people and then we're going to have to ... try to keep them separated as much as possible," he said. "That's a concern."
In preparation for the storm, Florida closed some COVID-19 testing sites on Thursday.
According to the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM), drive-thru and walk-up testing sites will be closed starting Wednesday, 5 p.m., "to keep individuals operating and attending the sites safe." It will remain closed until it is safe to reopen.FDEM anticipates that all sites will be opened by 8 a.m. on August 5.
FDEM added that the testing sites would remain open in 11 counties, mostly located on the west coast or the Panhandle.
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