By Peter Gaynor, Deputy Administrator, FEMA:

On August 25, the National Hurricane Center began to issue warnings that Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) should monitor Tropical Storm Dorian’s progress. While Puerto Rico was spared from major damage, Dorian did impact USVI with heavy rain and winds as a Category 1 hurricane.

As it progressed west, forecasts for Florida became increasingly dire. Stalling over the western Bahamian Islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama, then-Category 5 Hurricane Dorian left an unimaginable path of destruction in its wake.

Dorian’s forward motion slowed, and its probable track shifted farther east and north over multiple days. Residents and visitors on Florida’s East Coast as well as those in coastal Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina learned that the hurricane could impact those areas with high winds – and, most damaging, storm surge.

Read Peter Gaynor’s full post via Homeland Security Today.com.