Dean Gains Steam Over Atlantic: It’s Still Too Early to Say Where Storm Might Head, Local Official Says
By Jill Nolin, Northwest Florida Daily News, Fort Walton Beach
Aug. 16–FORT WALTON BEACH — Tropical Storm Dean is steadily picking up strength as it heads west in the Atlantic.
It’s expected to be the first hurricane of the 2007 season, with forecasters predicting it will reach that status sometime today.
Dean has been creeping more toward the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. Its projected path has it moving toward Texas and Mexico, although it is too soon to know for sure.
“There’s so much error in forecasts when it’s that far out,” said Dino Villani, Okaloosa County’s public safety director.
“We won’t know for sure until that error cone narrows,” he added.
In the span of a day, the storm has already changed direction. Initially, it looked like Dean was eyeing the East Coast of the United States.
As of 10 p.m., Dean was centered about 625 miles east of Barbados, according to the National Hurricane Center. It was moving west at near 23 mph and was expected to continue the same path over the next 24 hours.
Maximum sustained winds were near 70 mph. A hurricane has maximum sustained winds of 74 mph.
Local governments in the Caribbean issued a hurricane watch late Wednesday for a portion of the Lesser Antilles, forecasters said.
The watch, in effect for St. Lucia, Martinique, Guadeloupe and its dependencies, Saba and St. Eustaties, indicates hurricane conditions are possible in the next 36 hours.
If locals have not already made hurricane plans, now is the time to do that, Villani said.
The first step can be as simple as calling the Okaloosa County Department of Public Safety at 651-7150 or going online at www.co.okaloosa.fl.us to sign up for a new program called Okaloosa Ready.
“The best thing it does is prompt you to make a decision beforehand,” Villani said.
“The last thing we want is to encourage people to rely on shelters, because that’s really not the best place to be,” he said.
So far, 522 residents have signed up for the program, which creates custom-made information for participants based on their address.
Local stores are also on standby.
“I don’t think the panic has set in just yet since it’s still a good ways out,” said Nathan Smith, assistant manager at Lowe’s in Fort Walton Beach.
Daily News Staff Writer Jill Nolin can
be reached at 863-1111, Ext. 1445.
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Copyright (c) 2007, Northwest Florida Daily News, Fort Walton Beach
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