Key Biscayne Considering Declaration of Emergency 

In this image provided by NOAA, Hurricane Dorian gathers strength north of Puerto Rico at 1 p.m., Eastern Time, Aug. 29, 2019. Forecasters say the storm will hit Florida as a dangerous Category 4 hurricane, but that its track is very difficult to predict (NOAA via Key News)

Key Biscayne leaders are preparing to declare a state of emergency as Hurricane Dorian posed an increasing menace to the entire state of Florida Thursday. 

Forecasters now expect Dorian to be an extremely dangerous Category 4  storm at landfall with sustained winds of 130 miles-per-hour. Forecasters say there is a spread in computer models for the storm’s future track. They estimated a 62% chance of Miami encountering at least tropical-storm force winds over the Labor Day weekend. 

Hurricane Specialist Lixion Avila urged caution, saying many computer models predict a path closer to South Florida than the official forecast track.  “It is too soon to specify where along the Florida east coast the greatest impacts could occur,” he said. 

“We’ll declare when the County declares,” said Fire Chief Eric Lang at a meeting of Village department heads. “This is the push. We need to show the community that this is serious and that we are prepared. “

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez will be briefing Key Biscayne and other municipalities later today. It’s up to Gimenez to order an evacuation. 

Village officials discussed plans to distribute sandbags, deal with post-storm debris, along with plans to shelter vehicles and equipment off-island. Officials will set-up an emergency command post on the mainland. 

Village manager Andrea Agha makes point at meeting about Hurricane Dorian, Thursday Aug. 29, 2019. Dorian is forecast to hit the state as an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane (Key News/Tony Winton)

Under the Village Charter, Manager Andrea Agha would make the call about declaring a local state of emergency, which grants her additional legal authority. A declaration allows swift procurement of materials and services. A declaration was last made for Hurricane Irma in 2017.

Along much of Florida’s east coast, shoppers rushed to stock up on food and emergency supplies at supermarkets and hardware stores and picked the shelves clean of bottled water. Lines formed at service stations as motorists topped off their tanks and filled gasoline cans.

President Donald Trump said Florida is “going to be totally ready.” He tweeted: “Be prepared and please follow State and Federal instructions, it will be a very big Hurricane, perhaps one of the biggest!”

As of late Thursday morning, Dorian was centered about 220 miles (355 kilometers) northwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico, its winds blowing at 85 mph (140 kph) as it moved northwest at 13 mph (20 kph).

In this graphic provided by the National Hurricane Center, the forecast track for Hurricane Dorian is shown as of 11 a.m. Aug. 29, 2019 (National Hurricane Center via Key News)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency, and local governments distributed sandbags. Some residents used community Facebook groups to updates on grocery stores getting new shipments of water. 

At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, officials debated whether the mobile launch platform for the new mega rocket under development should be moved indoors.

The Associated Press’ Frieda Frisaro and Adriana Gomez Licon contributed to this report