November 8, 7 a.m. Wind Speed Probabilities for Tropical Storm Eta.
By Jill Fox
As Parkland prepares for Tropical Storm Eta, residents are already beginning to feel some of its effects.
In the early morning hours, power outages occurred in the communities of Watercrest and Heron Bay.
One Watercrest resident said her power flickered on and off, eventually remaining out for at least two hours before it was restored at 10 a.m. Residents can visit FPL.com/Storm to report an outage.
Parkland is currently under a tropical storm warning and can expect heavy rain and high winds through Monday afternoon.
NBC 6 Meteorologist Steve MacLaughlin said the Parkland area can expect bands of rain with tropical storm winds tonight and throughout the day on Monday.
“Our best advice is to stay home and have back-up power in case of outages,” he said, “If you do have to drive, avoid deep water. Flooding will be the biggest component of this storm.”
Although both Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties cancelled school on Monday, Broward County Public Schools made the determination to revert to 100 percent eLearning due to the storm.
However, at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Broward made the decision to cancel school after FPL reported expectations of large power outages in the area.
An update from the City of Parkland at 2 p.m. on Sunday stated all city parks and the P-REC at Pine Trails Park would remain closed until it is safe to reopen.
According to the city, winds associated with the storm are dangerous and require securing items around homes. Conditions, with the ground already significantly saturated, can result in uprooted trees and downed power lines.
Waste Management will adhere to their regular schedule on Monday.
At this time, emergency shelter locations have not been activated.
Residents can sign up for emergency text alerts from the city by texting “Parkland info” to 888-777.
Send your news to Parkland’s #1 News Source, Parkland Talk.