Good afternoon. I'm Patrick Fuller, Charlotte County Emergency Management Director, here in the Emergency Operations Center. The Charlotte County Board of County Commissioners declared a local state of emergency yesterday Tuesday in preparation for the potential impacts of Hurricane Helene. Hurricane Helene was upgraded to Hurricane as of the 11am advisory. It is still expected to make landfall in the big Ben-Flau area of Florida as a strong potentially category for three hurricane. The size and scope of the storm is likely to impact most portions of the peninsula of Florida, which is the reason why our forecast does include a potential for three to five feet of storm surge. A widespread potential of rainfall of three to six inches with some isolated areas receiving up to 10 inches. We do have roughly 70% chance of tropical storm force winds being experienced here in Charlotte County, primarily for the western portion of the county. Because of this and the serious nature of this storm and the size of it, Charlotte County Merit the Operation Center is now operating at a level one. We have directed an evacuation of our barrier islands, our low lying areas, especially those areas immediately near the coastline, our areas that are prone to flooding and our mobile and manufactured homes. Three to five feet of storm surge is a higher amount than what we experienced during Hurricane Idaia last year, which did include the flooding of northward of 120 homes. Because of those forecasted impacts and the evacuations we are opening and have opened two general population shelters, one at Harold Avenue Rec Center in Port Charlotte and one at Kingsway Elementary School. Those both opened at 1 p.m. today and our special needs shelter has opened to those individuals who were registered for that being operated by the Florida Department of Health in Charlotte County. With that I'm available for any questions. I have a room of big exchanges for one of the police of the U.S. rights now. Very little change as far as Charlotte County's potential impacts. The intensity when it does make its eventual landfall has increased to potentially a cat four, but the scope of those winds are in excess of 250 miles from the center of that storm, which is why the potential for storm surge is so real for the west coast of Florida. What would you say to the seriousness of us still feeling impacts even though we're not in that cone? It's worth reminding our residents that they should never focus on that cone. The cone only represents where the center of the storm will move. The impacts from all tropical systems can be felt well outside of the cone, especially in a system like this that has such a very large extent of its tropical storm force winds away from the center. 275 miles, that's in the 90th percentile for tropical events historically. I know we're planning for a water event here talk to the seriousness of the surge that we're expected to see. I think it's worth reminding everyone that the the majority of injuries and fatalities that are a direct result of tropical weather are because of water. 60% of the 90% of fatalities that happen because of water are associated with storm surge. Three to five feet, though not nearly as high as what our neighbors, unfortunately, to the north of us are probably going to experience because of this storm. Three to five feet can still be incredibly dangerous in life threatening, especially for those very low-lying areas in our barrier islands. What would you say to somebody who's wondering, eh, should I stick it out in my house if they have any doubts? If we've called it for the evacuation order, it's because we've received that forecast from the National Hurricane Center for the potential of storm surge in your area. You, the old adage of you can hide from wind, you should run from waters because how deadly water is. If you're in an area that's been evacuated, again, a barrier island, a low lying area, especially near the coastline, who may have experienced flooding in previous events. Those are the areas that are primary concern due to storm surge and they should evacuate. What are the shelters looking like right now? I know they just opened about an hour ago, or people coming in. At this point, we don't have a large number of individuals going to the shelter. I assume as people start leaving work at the end of the day those numbers will increase. What's the county prepared to do once the storm's passed? Well just like we do after every storm we ensure that the roadways are clear of debris and that emergency vehicles can reach our residents in their time of need. That's essentially called the first push to ensure that those main roadways and our T.O. roadways are clear and then we start assessing damage to determine what level of impact we have, what eligibility we may have for any FEMA programs or state programs for assistance both for our local governments and for our residents. For people who are not evacuating and they've been in an evacuation zone, tell us about the risk that they're running, staying there, not having emergency services be able to get to them potentially during the storm. To not to evacuate in your area that is cut off from emergency services, whether that's due to tropical storm force winds that are potentially sustained in our area or just being cut off from flooded roadways, assistance will not be coming immediately. Our emergency services agencies, Sheriff's Department, Police Department, Fire Department, our Fire EMS, County Fire EMS and other agencies, they do not operate when tropical storm force winds are sustained so that the assistance won't be coming if they're in an area that is experiencing those winds. As if any talk of closing the bridges, whether it's 41 or 75 during the storm. Those are the roadways maintained by the state. They have their determination which is Gail Force Winds. Any time an event where they have sustained Gail Force Winds, essentially the Florida Department of Transportation makes that call. Are you hearing that people are evacuating? How many of you guys have representatives from all parts of the county in that room? Are people actually heating the advice? At this point we haven't gotten numbers on that. and then from all parts of the county in that room, are people actually heating the advice? At this point, we haven't gotten numbers on that. We did do a very targeted notification to those areas that are of most concern. We have inundation graphics from the National Hurricane Center, and we're able to target our messaging through our alert Charlotte, our notification system, to ensure those residents truly understood that they are being asked to evacuate very likely because the truck will still enforce winds aren't expected to be impacting our community until overnight hours. Many individuals will probably still at work finishing out their day before they make their move. Thank you, else you want folks to know until your next update. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Patrick. Thank you, sir. Thank you, folks. Thank you.