Florida preps for ‘absolute monster’ of a storm

MIAMI (AP) — Unsure where Hurricane Dorian is going to land over Labor Day weekend, many Florida residents faced a sense of helplessness as the storm approaches.

In a video he tweeted Thursday evening, President Donald Trump said Dorian could be an “absolute monster.”

The National Hurricane Center said the Category 2 storm is expected to strengthen into a potentially catastrophic Category 4 and slam into the U.S. on Monday somewhere between the Florida Keys and southern Georgia.

With the storm’s track still unclear, no immediate mass evacuations have been ordered.

Across much of the state, residents picked the shelves clean of bottled water and lined up at gas stations

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency, clearing the way to bring in more fuel. Georgia’s governor has followed suit.

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Associated Press writers Seth Borenstein and Michael Balsamo in Washington; Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Marcia Dunn in Cape Canaveral, Florida; Freida Frisaro and Marcus Lim in Miami; Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida, contributed to this report.