BY: STAFF REPORT | BocaNewsNow.com
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2024 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — As of 5:30 a.m. ET, Hurricane Milton continues to churn in the Gulf of Mexico and is expected to make landfall later this week — then travel across the state. Its path, as of Monday morning, remains unclear. Some of the latest models suggest the system will stay just to the north of Palm Beach County, but it is much too soon to know. Here’s what we do know as of early Monday:
PALM BEACH COUNTY SCHOOLS remain open. The school district says it is monitoring the situation and will decide day-by-day what to do. School systems traditionally close once winds hit or pass 35 miles per hour which is considered dangerous for school busses.
GOVERNMENT OFFICES: All government offices in Palm Beach County remain operational with public service counters continuing normal hours. Trash collection is not affected as of Monday morning for any county or city within the county that provides its own service.
AIRPORTS are operation with no abnormal operations as of Monday morning. Palm Beach International, Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International, and Miami International are all reporting the normal number of delays and cancellations. Airports on the west coast of Florida, however, are likely to close as the storm nears.
MALLS: Area malls remain open with normal schedules, as do area retail locations including home improvement stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot which are not reporting shortages on any hurricane-related supplies as of early Monday.
POWER and CABLE: Although storms have been plentiful and strong over the past few days — and that’s expected to continue whether or not Milton directly hits Palm Beach County — there are no reports of widespread outages from FPL, AT&T, XFinity/Comcast, or Hotwire.
GAS: Fuel remains plentiful across the region. There continues to be no reports of “panic buying” leading to long lines at area gas stations.
