9/10/17 9:00 a.m. update: Local emergency management officials say the Big Bend could begin to feel the effects of Hurricane Irma Sunday night. The Leon County Sheriff's office wants all vehicles off the road by that time.
The National Weather Service has released a new estimate for when Tropical Storm and Hurricane Winds will reach the Big Bend. See below:
Tropical storm force winds are expected to reach the area tonight after 9 p.m. with hurricane force winds arriving near 10 a.m. Monday morning. The highest wind speeds from Hurricane Irma should last until 2 p.m. when top sustained winds could exceed 95 mph with gusts up to 115 mph.
Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum sent out a similar warning:
#IrmaTLH UPDATE pic.twitter.com/7sTd5kKDzP
— Mayor John E. Dailey (@MayorOfTLH) September 10, 2017
9/9/17 Original story: Local officials say to expect 18 hours worth of tropical storm and hurricane force winds above 70 miles an hour to hit the region. That's according to the latest information from the National Weather Service.
The length of time coupled with the force of the wind is likely to bring down more trees and local emergency officials are expecting between 3-5 days worth of power outages.
Several mandatory and voluntary evacuation notices have been issued across the Big Bend. Leon county is under a voluntary evacuation notice. The situation is being compared to Hurricane Hermine which struck the area last year. The storm knocked out 80 percent of the city of Tallahassee's power, with some areas taking weeks to restore.
Tropical storm conditions are expected to last through Monday evening.
Voluntary and/or mandatory evacuation notices have been issued in Leon, Franklin, Jefferson, Gulf and Wakulla Counties with storm surge watches in effect for Wakulla, Jefferson, Taylor and Dixie.
