Residents Encouraged to Monitor Hurricane Dorian Over the Weekend

Escambia County is encouraging residents and visitors to closely monitor official weather sources for information regarding Hurricane Dorian. The National Weather Service of Mobile is forecasting potential local impacts from Hurricane Dorian to include high risk of rip currents and high surf this weekend. More information on the flag system is available online here. 

While it's still too early to determine potential impacts to Escambia County, the latest forecast shows the storm tracking east of the area, with possible tropical storm-force winds forecast to arrive in the western Panhandle Tuesday morning. Residents are reminded to follow official sources for storm information such as National Weather Service, National Hurricane Center, Escambia County Emergency Management and City of Pensacola.

Follow these tips to stay safe during severe weather:

• Pay extra attention to local weather reports until the storm has moved through the area. Be sure to keep your weather radio on and your cell phone charged to ensure you can receive weather alerts. 
• With the possibility of high winds, it is recommended that any lightweight outside furniture or equipment be secured before dark Thursday evening.
• Organizations with planned outside activities during this Enhanced Risk period need to be weather aware and take the appropriate actions.
• In the event of a Tornado Warning, move to an interior room on the lowest floor of your home or building. Stay away from windows.
• Turn around, don't drown: In the event of a roadway covered by water, do not attempt to drive over the flooded road. Water depth may be misleading, and you could end up stranded or trapped.

For the latest information on severe weather impacting Escambia County, residents are encouraged to sign up for emergency alerts on myescambia.com, like Escambia County Emergency Management on Facebook and follow @BeReadyEscambia on Twitter.

Stay informed with these additional local resources:

• Escambia County real-time road closures map: View Escambia County road closures map online here.
• City of Pensacola real-time road closures map: View City of Pensacola road closures map online here.
• National Weather Service Mobile/Pensacola: weather.gov/mob or facebook.com/nwsmobile
• Pensacola 311 (non-emergencies only): Citizens have three easy ways to contact 311: Simply dialing 311, visiting cityofpensacola.com/311, or by downloading our Pensacola 311 mobile app, available for iPhone/iPad, Android, and Blackberry.
• City notifications: cityofpensacola.com/List.aspx