29th August 2019

Hurricane Dorian: 'Extremely dangerous' storm bears down on Florida

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By BBC

BBC - Hurricane Dorian is expected to strengthen into an "extremely dangerous" storm as it heads towards the US mainland, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) has warned.

Dorian is currently a category one hurricane, but could be category four by the time it reaches the mainland.

The storm is expected to hit somewhere between Florida and southern Georgia, possibly late on Sunday, the NHC says.

Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis has already declared a state of emergency.

He told residents it was "important for Floridians on the East Coast to monitor this storm closely", advising them to stock up on at least seven days worth of food.

The NHC noted the risk of "devastating hurricane force winds along the Florida East Coast" in its latest advisory.

A spokesman told news agency Reuters that winds were expected to reach 130mph (210km/h) over the weekend - making it a category four storm.

On the Saffir-Simpson scale, a category four storm is the second strongest, capable of causing "catastrophic damage".

The warnings come after the eye of the storm missed the main island of Puerto Rico, sparing it significant damage, as it headed north-west on Thursday.

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