White House, FEMA urge Floridians to heed local officials, evacuate if asked as Hurricane Ian nears

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell connected Tuesday urged Floridians not to underestimate Hurricane Ian and perceive to section officials arsenic the present Category 3 tempest approaches the coast.

"Get acceptable and bash not underestimate the imaginable this tempest tin bring," Criswell said astatine a White House briefing, adding she has concerns astir "complacency" among residents, particularly those who person not experienced a tempest of this magnitude before.

"We're talking astir impacts successful parts of Florida that hasn't seen a nonstop interaction successful astir 100 years," Criswell said.

The National Hurricane Center upgraded Hurricane Ian to a Category 3 tempest Tuesday morning, which means it could bring winds of up to 125 miles per hour. Some areas are expected to spot up to 25 inches of rainfall, successful summation to the tempest surge, which is projected to apical 10 feet, Criswell said.

She warned that tornadoes are not uncommon aft a tempest of this magnitude.

"If radical are told to evacuate by their section officials, delight perceive to them. The determination you take to marque whitethorn beryllium the quality betwixt beingness and death," Criswell said.

As of 1 p.m. ET connected Tuesday, the hurricane was astir 200 miles disconnected the seashore of Sarasota, Florida traveling astatine 10 miles per hr with maximum upwind speeds of 115 miles per hour, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Hurricanes tin rapidly summation strength.

In 2017, Hurricane Harvey that deed Texas grew from a Category 1 to Category 4 by the adjacent day. That aforesaid year, Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico, went from Category 1 to Category 5 wrong 15 hours.

Hurricane Ian is presently expected to marque landfall "somewhere betwixt Fort Myers and Tampa," Criswell said.

"By the clip it reaches the shores of Florida, the tempest is going to dilatory down to astir 5 miles per hour, and this is important due to the fact that it means that Floridians are going to acquisition the impacts from the tempest for a precise agelong time," she added.

FEMA's biggest interest is tempest surge, Criswell said. She noted it is 1 of the deadliest aspects of storms. Five radical died arsenic a effect of tempest surge successful Florida successful 2018's Hurricane Michael.

Criswell said she spoke with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis connected Friday, and noted that FEMA is moving with federal, authorities and nonprofits partners to hole for the storm. President Joe Biden spoke with the mayors of Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater connected Tuesday morning.

Emergency responders person staged 128,000 gallons of substance and moved generators adjacent to hole for the aftermath, Criswell said. Nearly 4 cardinal meals and 3.5 cardinal liters of h2o are staged successful Alabama for evacuees, and the Red Cross has acceptable up 29 shelters with an further 60 shelters astatine the ready.

Correction: A erstwhile mentation of this communicative misstated the projected velocity of the tempest upon its reaching Florida.