Columbia County Commission meeting Friday at noon to consider a local state of emergency.
The National Hurricane Center issued tropical storm warnings for portions of Florida on Friday morning as a potential tropical cyclone makes it way toward Florida.
Warnings have been issued for the southwest coast of the Florida peninsula from East Cape Sable to Bonita Beach, while tropical storm watches are in effect for the Florida Keys south of the Card Sound Bridge including the Dry Tortugas, the southern coast of the Florida peninsula east of East Cape Sable to the Card Sound Bridge and the west coast of the Florida peninsula north of Bonita Beach to Aripeka.
A tropical storm warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area within 36 hours. A watch means that tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area, generally within 48 hours.
The potential tropical cyclone is 90 miles east-southeast of Camaguey Cuba and 420 miles southeast of Key West with maximum sustained wind of 30 mph. It’s moving 16 mph to the west-northwest.
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday declared a state of emergency for 54 counties, most along the Gulf Coast and in northern Florida, as the tropical wave with a high chance of strengthening into a more-threatening storm was on a path that could reach the state this weekend.
Columbia, Hamilton, Lafayette and Suwannee counties were among the counties declared in the state of emergency.
The declaration was also for Alachua, Baker, Bay, Bradford, Calhoun, Charlotte, Citrus, Clay, Collier, Dixie, Duval, Escambia, Flagler, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Gulf, Hernando, Hillsborough, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Lake, Lee, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Madison, Manatee, Marion, Monroe, Nassau, Okaloosa, Orange, Osceola, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Santa Rosa, Sarasota, Seminole, St. Johns, Sumter, Taylor, Union, Volusia, Wakulla, Walton and Washington counties.
The Columbia County Commission has called an emergency meeting to consider declaring a local state of emergency at noon Friday at the Emergency Operations Center, 263 NW Lake City Avenue in Lake City.