Photo Courtesy WTXL ABC 27
Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency as Florida prepares for Tropical Storm Erika.
The state of emergency will cover every county in Florida.
“I declared a state of emergency this morning which allows us to make sure every resource, including the National Guard and the emergency management team," said Scott"
Scott mentioned the Tampa as a particular area of concern. Last month Tampa experienced severe thunderstorm and excessive flooding after storms.
"Right now we know that the Tampa areas have been saturated because of the storms we had a couple of weeks ago, so we're going to continue to focus on that," said Scott.
Scott encouraged Floridians to prepare for the storm by making sure they have at least three days of food and water, and also make sure prescriptions/medications are filled.
Max Tsaparis, Meteorologist for WTXL-TV ABC 27, stated that Tallahassee will experience little effect from Tropical Storm Erika, but can receive heavy rain if it lands in the Gulf of Mexico.
“Tallahassee will feel minimal effects from this system with some rain and minor winds possible. If it goes into the Gulf, we'll feel more direct impacts including heavy rains and tropical storm strength winds. Currently, the National Hurricane Center says there's a 10-20 percent chance of tropical storm force.”
Tsaparis added confidence in Erika's forecast is, and has been, quite low. Even with the new technology and preparations that go into the computer models, atmospheric conditions with Erika have been quite challenging to predict.
Erika is expected to remain a tropical storm.