Osceola County officials have chosen to cancel a planned curfew that would start at 11 p.m. tonight in place while Hurricane Dorian crawls northwestward through the Atlantic just east of the Florida peninsula. The National Weather Service dropped the Tropical Storm Warning in effect for Osceola County, but it is still in place to the north (Orange, Seminole, inland Brevard).
The latest information from NWS shows potential tropical storm squalls from Dorian will primarily affect the rural and largely unpopulated areas of eastern Osceola County. In the interest of public safety, the County waited for the 5 p.m. forecast to make the decision.
“I have decided to rescind the order,” county Emergency Management Director Bill Litton said. “We want residents to be safe, so stay safe with your families and stick with what you’ve been doing. We’re coming to the conclusion of this.”
Evacuation orders are still in place in the county – voluntary for low-lying areas and those in mobile home-type dwellings, and mandatory for flood-prone Good Samaritan Village.
Sheriff Russ Gibson said the lack of a storm warning currently (as of 5 p.m.) there is no need for the curfew initiated.
Litton said he’d update the status on shelter closures in the morning. As of 5 p.m., there are 422 people in seven shelters around the county, at six schools and special needs patients at the Council on Aging.
The next Osceola County Hurricane Dorian update will take place tomorrow at 4pm.
