( 4UMF NEWS ) Tropical Storm Isaac Gaining Strength:
Tropical Storm Isaac strengthened a little as it continued to move west toward the Dominican Republic and Haiti Friday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
The latest NHC track showed Isaac remaining a tropical storm as it approached the Florida Keys late Sunday or early Monday and becoming a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico early Tuesday.
Gov. Scott Urges Florida Families to Plan for Isaac
Officials in Monroe County have already cancelled school for Monday, and Emergency Management Director Irene Toner anticipated declaring a local state of emergency on Friday.
Emergency shelters will open at 9 a.m. Sunday in Monroe County. Shelters open are at Key West High School, Stanley Switlik Elementary School in Marathon and Coral Shores High School. County offices, sheriff’s offices and county courts will also be closed on Monday.
“We’re monitoring the storm very closely and we’ll probably make a decision this afternoon about evacuating the tourists but it’s looking better and better that we don’t have to with the storm not forecast to be a hurricane by the time it gets here,” Key West Mayor Craig Cates said Friday. “If we evacuate the tourists it costs us millions of dollars.”
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez is expected to hold a news conference at noon to discuss Isaac.
Meanwhile, organizers of next week’s Republican National Convention in Tampa continued to monitor the storm, though Gov. Rick Scott said Thursday he didn’t anticipate it would be cancelled.
