Five states have declared states of emergency over Hurricane Ian as of Wednesday as the hurricane’s trajectory sends the storm up the East Coast this week.
Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia have all declared states of emergency due to the severe weather predicted to hit the states this week. Virginia was the latest to issue such a declaration, although the storm is not expected to hit there until the weekend.
“Hurricane Ian is a large, powerful storm, and current predictions indicate that it may impact parts of Virginia later this week into early next week,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) said in a press release. “We want to ensure that our communities have the resources needed to respond to and recover from any potential effects from the storm. While we recognize that the storm track is still uncertain, I nevertheless encourage all Virginians and visitors to make a plan, have supplies on hand, and follow official sources for the latest forecast information and guidance. Suzanne and I will be praying for those in Florida in the path of the storm.”
Evacuation orders have only been issued in Florida, but residents in the other four states have been encouraged to keep an eye on the forecasts in the coming days. The hurricane, which was at Category 4 when it made landfall, weakened to Category 3 later Wednesday evening.
President Joe Biden agreed to send federal resources to Florida ahead of the hurricane on Saturday. Federal resources have also been sent to Georgia, with a 15-person incident management team, two 15-person health and medical task force teams, and four pharmacists deployed to Atlanta. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has additionally coordinated with the governors of Georgia and South Carolina.
Residents of each state are encouraged to review their emergency plans and check their emergency supplies.
