Hurricane Irma: Tarpon Springs Announces Closings

TARPON SPRINGS, FL — As Hurricane Irma continues on a path that’s likely to have impacts on Florida and the Tampa Bay area, the city of Tarpon Springs has announced several closings and cancellations.

City offices will be open on Friday, Sept. 8, but officials say they may close in the afternoon. “We expect to revisit our schedule before close of business on Friday, Sept. 8, and make further decisions on facilities closings for Sept. 11,” an email from city spokeswoman Judy Staley said. (For more hurricane news or local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Tarpon Springs Patch, and click here to find your local Florida Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

As of Thursday, the city intended to observe the following closings:

• All recreation center events and classes canceled on Saturday and Sunday
• The city’s golf course will close Sunday and Monday
• The Cycadia Cemetery will close at the end of the day and remain so through Monday
• Tarpon Springs Library is set to close Saturday and Sunday
• The Heritage Museum and Safford House Museum will be closed Friday, Saturday and Sunday
• All city parks and beaches will close Saturday through Monday

Watch: New Track Has Irma Directly Hitting South Florida

The following events have also been canceled:

• The Sept. 11 Heritage Preservation Board meeting
• The Sept. 14 Budge Advisory Committee meeting
• The Sept. 11 Parks and Recreation Advisory Board meeting
• This weekend’s Rotary Triathlon
• Nights in the Islands, which was set to take place Sept. 8
• Chief Butcher’s retirement party is being postponed

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By 5 p.m. Thursday, Irma was located about 40 miles south of Grand Turk Island. The Category 5 storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 175 mph while moving west-northwest at 16 mph.

On its current projected path, Hurricane Irma is expected to pass by Cuba on Friday and Saturday with the potential for landfall in south Florida on Sunday. As of the National Hurricane Center’s 5 p.m. Sept. 7 update, almost the entire peninsula of Florida remained in the storm’s possible path.

Hurricane-force winds extended out from Irma by 70 miles Thursday. Tropical storm-force winds extended out 185 miles. Forecasters say, “some fluctuations in intensity are likely during the next day or two, but Irma is forecast to remain a powerful Category 4 or 5 hurricane during the next couple of days.” The storm has been blamed for at least 10 deaths in the Caribbean.

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