HURRICANE IAN WILL BRING TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS TO MONROE COUNTY; BE IN SAFE STRUCTURE BY 2 P.M. TODAY

MONROE COUNTY, FL – Monroe County Emergency Management is coordinating preparedness efforts with local, state, and federal partners due to the potential threat of Hurricane Ian.

Residents and visitors should be in their safe structure by 2 p.m. today and stay off the roads. A general population shelter will open at noon today at Key West High School for anyone who needs a safe place to ride out the storm.

– Monroe County government offices and schools will be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday.

– Trauma Star helicopters are not in flight today.

– Emergency operations (police and fire) will cease when winds reach 35 mph and will resume as soon as safe to do so.

– No electric outages reported at this time.

All commercial flights at Key West International Airport for Tuesday, September 27, have been canceled. Please contact your airline for any changes regarding flights.

The port of Key West is closed to maritime traffic.

A tropical storm warning remains for both the Lower and Middle Florida Keys, from the Channel 5 Bridge through Key West, and west to just short of the Dry Tortugas. A hurricane warning remains in effect for the Dry Tortugas only.

Weather conditions expected include:

– Tropical storm-force winds are to begin in the Lower Keys this afternoon, and reach the Middle Keys by this evening.

– Severe rain squalls with damaging wind gusts are expected, especially in the Lower and Middle Keys.

– A storm surge watch remains in effect for all of the Florida Keys, with potential for storm surge flooding 1 to 3 feet above normal high tides.

– The highest storm surge is likely to occur well after the center of Hurricane Ian passes west of the Florida Keys Tuesday night and into Wednesday in Keys gulf and bayside waters. Storm surge may linger into Friday at bayside locations in the Upper Keys.

A flood watch is in effect for all of the Florida Keys through Wednesday morning for the potential of 4 to 6 inches of rainfall with isolated maximum amounts near 8 inches, falling mainly from later today through Thursday night.

A tornado watch is in effect for the entire Keys island chain. Tornadoes are possible in association with Ian’s rain bands.

Hurricane Ian is forecast to pass west of the Florida Keys tonight, and all preparedness actions should be completed.

Hurricane preparation information can be found at www.monroecountyem.com. For tourism, visit www.fla-keys.com. To get emergency information about the storm, sign up for Alert!Monroe at www.monroecountyem.com. Detailed County-wide storm information can be found at www.monroecountyem.com/JIC.

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