NOAA: Hurricane Isaac Planning to Strike Florida on Sunday; Republican Convention Delayed Until Tuesday
NOAA's National Hurricane Center storm-tracker predicts that Tropical Storm Isaac will become Hurricane Isaac by Monday. However, the most intense sector of Isaac, the northeast quadrant, is anticipated to strike Southwest Florida on Sunday, according to NOAA. Tampa Bay, the location in which the Republican National Convention will be held, is predicted to feel the hurricane Monday morning as it passes over the Florida Keys.
Many of the forecast models also foresee that Hurricane Isaac will continue north-northwest on Monday and make impact on the US Gulf Coast as west as New Orleans and as south as Tampa.
A public advisory was issued at 2 p.m. ET keeping a hurricane warning for the Florida Keys, the west coast of Florida and Florida Bay. The region is expected to suffer extensive flooding in some areas when the storms arrive. A hurricane warning means that hurricane conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area within the coming 24 to 36 hours.
Robert Molleda, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, has said: "Even if we don't get hurricane force winds, tropical storm force winds can be dangerous. We are not recommending people be outside," according to The Palm Beach Post.
"We are going to have a lot of power outages and a good number of trees down, with the rain and the ground saturated."
The RNC, 2012 Republican National Convention is officially being delayed until Tuesday, August 28. Word of the delay came to California Republicans--who are the largest representatives to the RNC--on late Saturday.
"It's just a matter of protecting the safety of the delegation and assuring the convention is going smoothly," Mitch Zak, spokesman of the California delegation said. "It's not going to change our enthusiasm. We're still extremely excited - and a little water is not going to get in the way of a great convention."
At least 750 from the California delegation were expected to fly in for the opening day on Monday, Zak said.
"We're all still coming in. So nothing has changed as far as the events, it's just one day delay," he continued.
