MIAMI – Florida is bracing for Hurricane Irma, which is set to make impact this weekend in South Florida.
Several areas are already being evacuated. You can find a list here.
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Districts are preparing in the case that their facilities are needed for shelters. Colleges are making emergency preparations on their campuses and working with students who may need assistance with relocation.
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Here's a list of Florida school closures already announced:
K-12 Public Schools Closures
- Alachua County (Monday)
- Brevard County (Thursday, Friday)
- Broward County (Thursday, Friday)
- Charlotte County (Thursday, Friday)
- Clay (Friday, Monday)
- Collier County (Thursday, Friday)
- DeSoto County (Thursday, Friday)
- Dixie County (Friday, Monday)
- Duval County (Friday, Monday)
- Florida Atlantic University Lab School (Thursday, Friday)
- Flagler County (Friday, Monday)
- Glades County (Thursday, Friday)
- Hardee County (Monday, Tuesday)
- Hendry County (Thursday, Friday)
- Hernando County (Thursday, Friday)
- Highlands County (Friday, Monday)
- Hillsborough County (Thursday, Friday)
- Indian River County (Thursday, Friday)
- Lake County (Early Release Friday – high schools at 1:20PM, elementary at 2PM, middle at 3PM, Monday)
- Lee County (Thursday, Friday)
- Manatee County (Friday)
- Marion County will be (Friday, Monday)
- Martin County (Thursday, Friday)
- Miami-Dade County (Thursday, Friday)
- Monroe County (Wednesday until further notice)
- Nassau County (Friday, Monday)
- Okeechobee County (Thursday, Friday)
- Osceola County (Friday, Monday)
- Palm Beach County (Thursday, Friday)
- Pasco County (Friday)
- Polk County (Friday)
- Sarasota (Friday)
- School for the Deaf and Blind (Thursday, Friday)
- Seminole County (Monday)
- St. Johns (Friday, Monday)
- St. Lucie County (Thursday, Friday)
- Volusia County (Friday, Monday, Cancelled ACT test administrations scheduled for Saturday, September 9, at area high schools.)
Florida College System Closures
- Broward College (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
- College of Central Florida (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday)
- Daytona State College (Thursday, Friday)
- Eastern Florida State College (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
- Florida Keys Community College (Wednesday until further notice)
- Florida SouthWestern State College (Thursday, Friday)
- Florida State College at Jacksonville (Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday)
- Hillsborough Community College (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
- Indian River State College (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
- Miami Dade College (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
- Palm Beach State College (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
- Pasco-Hernando State College (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday)
- Seminole State College (Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday)
- State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday)
- St. Petersburg College (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
- Valencia College (Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday)
State University System Closures
- Florida Atlantic University (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
- Florida Gulf Coast University (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
- Florida International University (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
- University of Central Florida (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday)
- University of South Florida (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday)
US prepares for potentially historic storm
President Donald Trump approved an emergency declaration for the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, allowing the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies to remove debris and give other services that will largely be paid for by the U.S. government.
Pauline Jackson, a 59-year-old registered nurse from Florida visiting Puerto Rico, said she had tried to leave before the storm but all flights were sold out.
She has a reservation to fly out Friday and is worried about her home in Tampa. "When you're from Florida, you understand a Category 5 hurricane," she said.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center predicted Irma would remain at Category 4 or 5 for the next day or two as passes just to the north of the Dominican Republic and Haiti on Thursday, nears the Turks & Caicos and parts of the Bahamas by Thursday night and skirts Cuba on Friday night into Saturday. It will then likely head north toward Florida.
The storm is expected to hit Florida sometime Sunday, and Gov. Rick Scott said he planned to activate 7,000 National Guard soldiers by Friday. He warned that Irma is "bigger, faster and stronger" than Hurricane Andrew, which wiped out entire neighborhoods in south Florida 25 years ago.
Experts worried that Irma could rake the entire Florida east coast from Miami to Jacksonville and then head into Savannah, Georgia, and the Carolinas, striking highly populated and developed areas.
"This could easily be the most costly storm in U.S. history, which is saying a lot considering what just happened two weeks ago," said Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami.