TALLAHASSEE, Fla. � Floridians should remain prepared and stay patient, Gov. Ron DeSantis said as the state entered into the fifth day of watching Hurricane Dorian, a massive storm with 155 mph sustained winds sitting about 100 miles east of West Palm Beach.
DeSantis sought to guard against "storm fatigue," urging residents to pay attention to local alerts and evacuation orders, in case the storm jogs west before turning north, as most forecasters predict.
"This has been frustrating I know for a lot of people because it seems like we've been talking about this a long time, but we are in a situation where the storm is stalling very close to our coast," DeSantis said Monday from the state Emergency Operations Center. "It is going to make a move, and the movement that it makes is going to have a lot of impacts on Floridians."
Evacuation orders have been issued by most counties for coastal areas from Palm Beach County north to the Florida-Georgia border. DeSantis said seven hospitals have evacuated: AdventHealth New Smyrna Beach, Health First Cape Canaveral Hospital, Cleveland Clinic South in Martin County, Port St. Lucie Hospital, Good Samaritan Medical Center in Palm Beach County, Stuart Sebastian River Medical Center and the Halifax Psychiatric Center North in Volusia County.
Cleveland Clinic North in Martin County is under a partial evacuation.
In addition, 72 nursing homes and assisted living facilities have been evacuated, with more expected as Dorian moves up the coast.
DeSantis suspended tolls on most major highways, including the Turnpike and Central Florida toll roads like State Roads 408, 429, 417 and 414 and 528. State officials continue to monitor traffic patterns but saw "nothing out of the ordinary" as of Monday morning, DeSantis said.
He added that power restoration is a top priority once the storm passes, and Florida Power & Light, the utility which covers most of the east coast, has 17,000 personnel "ready to respond and, as soon as the first bands of severe weather hit, they will come in after that to restore power around the clock."
