Page 22 - Coco Beach News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

For these barrier islands, you said it and we heard from bill karins, the threat is really the storm surge. there are no life guards out on these beaches so they want people to stay off the water. authorities describing the mood here as cautiously optimistic because it looks like the still monster of a cat 3 is going to stay off the florida coast. but right now it is 80 miles off the east coast of florida and that's a little too close for comfort as some of the authorities told me earlier today. i want to bring in one of them. this is the mayor of cocoa beach. >> good morning. >> reporter: ben...

We are drifting at 1 mile per hour. from here on out it should begin to slowly accelerate, slowly, painfully slowly. but we'd like to get it away from the northern bahama islands so the people there waiting for rescue that need help can -- so the help can get in there. we need the winds to come down a little bit more. you notice we also have rain bands lashing the coastal areas, too. when the bands come through is when we'll get high wind gusts and may start getting scattered power outages from areas of west palm beach up to jupiter to fort pierce heading up toward the space coast, coco beach ...

Flooding issues. we've got to take note of that. >> reporter: you're a veteran of these storms. this storm has been unpredictable at best. stephanie has been covering it since yesterday. what worries you specifically? what could still be the threat, the worst case scenario? >> the wobble we had, it was originally going to be 47 miles off our coast line, then 60, now closer to 80 so that wobble back west is really concerning because that changes the entire picture and that's why i want people to just, if you're, wherever you are by later today, just stay inside and be safe. >> what kinds of con...

Warning and getting ready? hurricane dorian, catastrophic >> chris, good morning to you. that mandatory evacuation order category 5 hurricane continues for the barrier islands here in to move slowly across the bahamas lashing the island chain brevard county, coco beach where i am now, merritt island, indian with 200-mile-per-hour wind harbor beach, that went in effect about an hour ago. you can see it is pretty much a ghost town here behind me but firsts and inundating storm surge 23 feet above normal. still early and looks like a at any moment we are expecting to hear from governor ron beauti...

Made preparations to buy supplies, get enough food, sustainable food, putting my window shutters down. >> you're staying put for now. >> i am for now but the storm has turned and stalled. it's barely even moving. so i think the next few hours are very critical in determining what the path of that storm is going to be. >> reporter: thank you, scott. i know you have a busy day ahead. i appreciate your time. critical, chris. that is what the next couple hours look like for these communities, especially in these barrier islands that sit between the ocean in the back of me and the intercoastal wate...