September 6, 2017 – Hurricane Irma remains a strong Category 5 hurricane as it moves closer to Florida. As of the Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017, 8 a.m. tracking numbers, Irma is located at 18.1 N, 63.3 W and is situated over the islands of Anguilla, St. Maarten and St. Barts. Irma has sustained winds of 185 mph and is moving WNW at 16 mph.
On its current projected track, Florida could be feeling the effects of Irma early Sunday morning. Should the storm continue on the current projected track, the Santa Fe College community will be impacted later Sunday and throughout the day Monday.
Students, faculty and staff need to prepare for potential heavy rains and gusty winds from Irma. Forecasters also warn against strictly following the projected path of the storm. The entire cone around the projected path shows the general area the storm could be while it moves through the area.
Irma is also a very large storm, currently larger than the state of Ohio. Hurricane and tropical storm force winds extend considerably beyond the eye of the storm. That means even if the storm was to travel up the Atlantic coast, similar to last year’s Hurricane Matthew, north central Florida would still be experiencing the rain and wind associated with these kinds of storms.
The SF Emergency Management team is monitoring Hurricane Irma and will provide updates as they are available. All students, faculty and staff are encouraged to download the Safe Santa Fe app on their phones. The app will send important safety alerts concerning Hurricane Irma and any other public safety information.
SF employees are also encouraged to go to eStaff on the Santa Fe College website, click on the “My Information” link and update your contact information under the “Emergency Notification Info” tab.
Helpful links as Hurricane Irma approaches:
Santa Fe College Alerts Page – sfcollege.edu/alerts
National Hurricane Center Irma Tracking – www.nhc.noaa.gov
Basic Disaster Supply Kit from ready.gov – www.ready.gov/hurricanes
Santa Fe College Police Department – Non-emergency 352-395-5519; Emergency 352-395-5555