Agha Declares State of Emergency for Key Biscayne

Village Manager Andrea Agha, right, next to Fire Chief Eric Lang, watches presentation during meeting of department managers about the approach of Hurricane Dorian, Fri. Aug. 30, 2019 ) Agha declared a state of emergency later in the day. (Key News/Tony Winton)

With a powerful and hard-to-predict Hurricane Dorian threatening, Key Biscayne Village Manager Andrea Agha declared a state of emergency at 5:40 pm Friday, but island residents woke up to revised forecasts Saturday that Dorian’s fierce winds may stay away.

Dorian gained fearsome new muscle with 145 mph winds as an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm, bearing down on the northwestern Bahamas, but forecasters at the National Hurricane Center said it’s possible the center of the storm may stay offshore and not make landfall. Still, with some computer models giving different tracks, they urged caution.

“It should be noted that the new forecast track does not preclude Dorian making landfall on the Florida coast, as large portions of the coast remain in the track cone of uncertainty,” wrote Hurricane Specialist Jack Beven.

Millions of people in Florida, along with the state’s Walt Disney World and President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, are in the potential crosshairs of the storm.

As of 8 a.m. Saturday, Dorian was 280 miles (450 kilometers) east of the northwestern Bahamas and 445 miles (715 kilometers) east of West Palm Beach, Florida. It was heading west at 12 miles per hour, picking up its pace a bit.

In this graphic from the National Hurricane Center, the path of Dorian is shown as of 5 a.m. Saturday Aug. 31, 2019 (National Hurricane Center via Key News)

The National Hurricane’s advisory says maximum sustained winds remained at 140 mph (220 kph), but the storm’s forward speed picked up slightly, moving west at 12 mph (19 kph), up from 10 mph (17 kmh).

Hurricane-force winds still extend outward up to 30 miles (45 kilometers) from the storm’s center, and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 105 miles (165 kilometers).

Forecasters put the odds of at least tropical-storm force winds in Miami at 63%. The probability of hurricane-force winds was 12%.

Back in Key Biscayne, Agha’s declaration of an emergency grants her additional legal powers, but it does NOT mean there is an evacuation. Under the Village Charter, the state of emergency remains in place until terminated by the Village Council.

Closures and Cancellations:

• The Freebee transport service has stopped operation until further notice.
• A Village Council meeting and workshop, both scheduled for Sept. 3, have been canceled.
• Crossbridge Church Key Biscayne called off Sunday services, but worshippers were invited to a service at the Pinecrest campus. A video sermon was also recorded and is available.
• Miami Dade College is closed through Tuesday
• The University of Miami is closed and will resume Wednesday.
• FIU canceled courses Friday and Saturday.
• The Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau issued a statement to help visitors

Trump declared a state of emergency in Florida and authorized the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster-relief efforts. He told reporters that “Mar-a-Lago can handle itself” and that he is more worried about Florida.

As Dorian closed in, Labor Day weekend plans were upended. Major airlines began allowing travelers to change their reservations without fees. The big cruise lines began rerouting their ships. Disney World and Orlando’s other resorts found themselves in the storm’s projected path.

Still, with Dorian days away and its track uncertain, Disney and other major resorts held off announcing any closings, and Florida authorities ordered no immediate mass evacuations.

“Sometimes if you evacuate too soon, you may evacuate into the path of the storm if it changes,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said.

But some counties announced mandatory evacuations ahead of time on Friday. Brevard County and Martin County officials said residents of barrier islands, mobile homes and low-lying areas would be under a mandatory evacuation order beginning Sunday morning. The Brevard County order includes the Kennedy Space Center. Indian River County officials said they will recommend residents of its barrier island voluntarily evacuate once hurricane warnings are issued.

Homeowners and businesses rushed to cover their windows with plywood. Supermarkets ran out of bottled water, and long lines formed at gas stations, with some fuel shortages reported.

At a Publix supermarket in Cocoa Beach, Ed Ciecirski of the customer service department said the pharmacy was extra busy with people rushing to fill prescriptions. The grocery was rationing bottled water and had run out of dry ice.

“It’s hairy,” he said.

Coastal areas of the southeastern United States could get 6 to 12 inches (15 to 30 centimeters) of rain, with 18 inches (46 centimeters) in some places, triggering life-threatening flash floods, the hurricane center said.

The hurricane center’s advisory released at 5 a.m. Saturday also warned that the “risk of strong winds and life-threatening storm surge” during the middle of next week is increasing along Georgia and South Carolina’s coasts.

Also imperiled were the Bahamas, where canned food and bottled water were disappearing quickly from shelves and the sound of hammering echoed across the islands as people boarded up their homes. Dorian was expected to hit the northwestern part of the Bahamas by Sunday with the potential for life-threatening storm surge that could raise water levels 15 feet (5 meters) above normal.

“Do not be foolish and try to brave out this hurricane,” Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said. “The price you may pay for not evacuating is your life.”

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Associated Press writers Adriana Gomez Licon and Ellis Rua contributed to this report.

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