As Tropical Storm Elsa continues moving toward Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis issued an executive order, Saturday, declaring a state of emergency for 15 Florida counties including Charlotte, Citrus, Collier, DeSoto, Hardee, Hernando, Hillsborough, Lee, Levy, Manatee, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Pasco, Pinellas and Sarasota Counties.
Tropical storm conditions are expected to reach the lower keys Monday night and are projected to begin impacting Southwest Florida in Collier County early Tuesday morning.
DeSantis is urging Floridians to prepare for impacts including heavy rain, flooding and potential storm surge. The State Emergency Operations Center activated to a Level Two Saturday morning, which enhances coordination between state, federal and local emergency management agencies.
Gov. Ron DeSantis also requested a pre-landfall Emergency Declaration, Sunday, ahead of projected impacts from Tropical Storm Elsa.
The Emergency Declaration request includes Charlotte, Collier, Lee, DeSoto, Manatee, Sarasota, Citrus, Hardee, Hernando, Hillsborough, Levy, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Pasco and Pinellas Counties.
A news release from the Governor's office indicates DeSantis is requesting federal public assistance for emergency protective measures including support for evacuations and sheltering.
In Manatee County, officials declared a local state of emergency, Sunday. The Herald Tribune reports, Manatee activated its emergency operations center at Level Two Monday morning, which will allow staff to perform any emergency support functions.
The Manatee County Public Works Department opened a self-serve sandbag distribution center, Sunday at the County’s Stormwater Facility at 5511 39 Street East, Bradenton, 34203. That distribution center reopened Monday morning and will remain open until 7 p.m. Monday. For more information visit www.mymanatee.org/sandbags.
Following an emergency meeting Monday morning Charlotte County Commissioners declared a local state of Emergency for Tropical Storm Elsa. Residents of Charlotte County are urged to follow storm-related information from Charlotte County Emergency Management online at www.CharlotteCountyFL.gov and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ccoem.
Lee County residents can stay up to date at: https://www.leegov.com/hurricane/storm.
Collier County residents are urged to monitor local activity at: https://www.colliercountyfl.gov/your-government/divisions-a-e/emergency-management
In Sarasota County, residents can stay up to date at: https://www.scgov.net/government/emergency-services/hurricane-preparedness
Statewide, residents can get live updates by following @FLSERT and @GovRonDeSantis on Twitter. Information on emergency preparedness can be found at http://www.floridadisaster.org.
The WGCU-FM news team will also be providing updates at 90.1 FM/91.7FM, online at wgcunews.org and by following @wgcu on Twitter.
You can also stay up to date with changes through the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network Storm Center at https://floridastorms.org/?station=WGCU&station=WGCU and by following @FloridaStorms on Twitter.
