Transcript
Residents living along the Gulf Coast are bracing for not one, but two tropical storms that could impact the area in the coming days.
The first storm is tropical storm Laura.
It is headed for the Florida Keys.
Monroe County officials have already declared a state of emergency and activated its emergency operations center.
All residents who live on boats, mobile homes or RVs are under mandatory evacuation orders.
Officials are planning to discuss opening shelters Saturday.
The storm will affect the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands this weekend.
Monroe County includes Florida’s Keys from North Key Largo all the way down to Key West.
The current model shows the storm passing directly over Key West early next week.
It is then expected to become a hurricane and strike the panhandle of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi or Louisiana.
Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are under tropical storm warnings.
The second system is tropical storm Marco.
Right now the storm is east of the Yucatan Peninsula and is expected to dump several inches of rain before heading toward the US.
Both storms are headed to the Gulf of Mexico at the same time and that is extremely rare.
It’s only happened twice in recorded history.
And at this point meteorologist don’t know which storm will be the strongest.
In fact forecasters say the two storms could impact each other, making things even more complicated.
Posted – 8.22.20