The Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners on Saturday declared a State of Local Emergency for Tropical Storm Ian. Effective for seven days, the declaration gives County Administrator Barry A. Burton authority to quickly approve expenditures and issue special orders to ensure public safety if needed.
While there remains a high level of uncertainty as to future intensity and exact track of the storm, forecasting models are mostly in agreement that that storm will track up the Florida west coast and make landfall sometime next week as a major hurricane.
No evacuations have currently been ordered, but residents are urged to continue monitoring the storm at www.pinellascounty.org and through local news sources.
Advice for residents
• Residents with preparedness questions can call the County Information Center at 727-464-4333. The County Information Center is open until 8:00 pm Saturday, and from 8:00 am to 8:00pm Sunday.
• No evacuations have been ordered, and no shelters are open at this time. Please continue to monitor www.pinellascounty.org for updates.
• Stay informed:
- Sign up for Alert Pinellas at www.pinellascounty.org/alertpinellas and download the new Ready Pinellas app in the App Store or Google Play store for real-time storm updates.
- Monitor local news media, National Weather Service, www.pinellascounty.org, Facebook @PinellasCountyNews and Twitter @PinellasCoNews
- Review tips and planning tools in the 2022 All Hazards Preparedness Guide online at www.pinellascounty.org/emergency
- Visit storm.pinellascounty.org
- Download the Ready Pinellas app
- Call 727-453-3150 from a landline; enter 10-digit home phone number
Original source can be found here