Gov. Rick Scott has declared a state of emergency ahead of Erika.
Issued this morning, the declaration says that Tropical Storm Erika is expected to travel up the spine of Florida and designates the director of the division of emergency management as the coordinating officer for the duration of the emergency.
See the governor's order here.
Erika is expected to come ashore Monday at the tip of the peninsula and with 60 mph winds.
The declaration says Erika "poses a severe threat to the entire State of Florida and requires that timely precautions are taken to protect communities, critical infrastructure, and general welfare of this state."
Scott is expected to give an update on the storm today at 11 a.m. from the Miami-Dade State of Emergency Operations Center.
Erika's track has shifted more to the left with the center of the cone of uncertainty coming in through the tip of the peninsula. Tropical storm force winds extend out 150 miles form Erika's center.
Still, there is a slim chance that Erika could regroup after hitting the warmer waters in the Caribbean, so Florida shouldn't let its guard down all together. And, tropical storms are nothing to sneeze at.
Consider Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Its strongest winds never came close to Palm Beach County, but it blew in powerful waves that breached Manalapan's sea walls, pulled Lantana's lifeguard station into the sea, sank a floating burger stand in the Intracoastal and undermined oceanfront pools.
A year later, Tropical Storm Isaac packed little punch, yet dumped as much as 18 inches of rain, leaving western communities under several feet of water for days.
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