Florida News That Impacts You – August 5th, 2024
Bottom Line: Your daily recap of the biggest news from around the state that impacts you in South Florida.
- Governor DeSantis has amended his original emergency declaration which included over 50 counties under a declared State of Emergency – to now include 61 in advance of the landfall of Hurricane Debby today. Counties from Miami Dade through Brevard are excluded from the emergency declaration. All others are included.
- The National Weather Service has issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook for our area today as Hurricane Debby is set to make landfall as a Category 1 hurricane near Perry in the Big Bend. The advisory for the Palm Beaches and Treasure Coast includes rip current risk and dangerous marine conditions with the potential for localized flooding in prone areas. Highs in the upper 80’s. Temperatures will be about 2 degrees warmer than usual for this date. The National Hurricane Center is tracking a disturbance in the Southern Atlantic near the Windward Islands that’s expected to track towards Mexico with a 30% chance of development this week.
- There are currently no significant power outages on Florida’s east coast or in Southwest Florida. There are currently 12 counties within the state with elevated power outages resulting from Debby’s impacts. Dixie and Suwannee Counties in the Big Bend are the most negatively impacted with about a third of customers currently without power in those areas.
- The Palm Beach and Indian River County health departments are encouraging residents who are able to donate blood to do so following OneBlood’s ransomware attack last week. While OneBlood is still accepting blood donations, most of their services have been taken offline creating manual processes and delays in blood deliveries to the 250 medical facilities they serve. The Florida Department of Health has partnered with SunCoast, LifeSouth and other third parties for blood donations. You can visit FloridaDonates.com to find a location nearest you.
- Gas prices are eights higher than a week ago. The average price for regular unleaded in Florida is currently $3.46 per gallon. In Palm Beach County the average price is $3.61 per gallon, in Martin the average is $3.52 and in Indian River County the average is $3.47 per gallon.