As South Florida begins trying to dry out, Floridas Panhandle to the Big Bend --which has been saturated by weeks of near daily rain --continues to be a worry to state emergency officials from Tropical Storm Isaac.
The storm may grow to a Category 2 withmaximum sustained winds between 96 miles per hour and 110 mph, as it reaches Louisiana.
The storm has caused Gov. Rick Scott to cancel another day at the Republican National Convention, saying he will continue to direct his focus Tuesday and Wednesday to the citizens and visitors to Florida instead of just those attending the party political event.
Our focus is to keep everybody safe and everybody alive, Scott told reporters Monday at 6 p.m. from the Florida Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee.
Just like Scott, the storm has been crossing the state the past couple of days.
The storm crossed west of the Keys as a tropical storm on Sunday night, bringing heavy rains to the entire southern part of the state, particularly areas of Palm Beach County that received up to 13 inches of rain.
Of the 81,000 still without power, the majority are in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
No major damage was reported in the Keys.
Fortunately for Florida, the center of the system went west of the state.
As of 5 p.m. (EDT) on Monday, Isaac was growing into a bigger threat to the Gulf Coast, as it slowed and picked up speed over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Scott said he has talked with governors from the other Gulf Coast states, each agreeing to provide assistance.
Isaac still wasnt a hurricane, with maximum sustained winds at 70 mph, but its northwest speed has slowed to 12 mph.
On the current track from the National Hurricane Center, Louisiana would be the landing point for the center of the storm, but even then tropical storm force winds could stretch to the Big Bend region.
Scott said the concern is rain, tornadoes and storm surge.
Franklin County and Walton County have ordered evacuations for the coastal island, said Florida Emergency Management Director Bryan Koon.
Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 215-9889.
