Manatee County School District Announces Friday Status

BRADENTON, FL — Manatee County public school students are scoring an extra-long Labor Day weekend courtesy of Hurricane Hermine. The school district announced late Thursday that classes have been canceled on Friday, Sept. 2.

While schools will be closed Friday, county offices are expected to reopen Friday at 10 a.m. Courts will open for business at 8 a.m. and MCAT routes are expected to start running at 7 a.m. with some delays possible due to the weather.

“We’re expecting more wind and rain tonight, so drivers should remain off the roads until tomorrow morning if possible,” said Emergency Management Chief Don Hermey in a Thursday night statement. “Conditions will remain wet and potentially dangerous in the morning, so drivers should remain cautious on the way to work.”

The county reports some roads remain under water and an estimated 2,300 people are without power.

The district joins several others in the Tampa Bay area who have decided to close Friday in light of the potential for severe weather and flooding. Hillsborough and Pasco counties have both announced similar decisions.

See also: Hurricane Hermine Intensified Before Florida Landfall

The National Hurricane Center reported that Hurricane Hermine was located about 45 miles south-southeast of Apalachicola at 8 p.m. Thursday. Hermine was packing maximum sustained winds of 80 mph; an intensification from earlier in the afternoon. The storm was moving north-northeast at 14 mph.

Hermine is expected to make landfall in Florida's Big Bend area late Thursday or early Friday morning. It will be the first hurricane in Florida since 2005's deadly Hurricane Wilma made landfall in the Sunshine State.

As of Thursday evening, tropical storm force winds were extending outward from the storm up to 185 miles to the northeast and southeast of the center, forecasters say. Hurricane force winds were extending outward up to 45 miles from the center, forecasters said.

On its present track, Hurricane Hermine is expected to cut across northern Florida Friday before heading toward Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina as a tropical storm. Hermine is also projected to have an impact on Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey over the Labor Day weekend.

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