Pasco-Hernando State Sets Hurricane Irma Plans

NEW PORT RICHEY, FL — Pasco-Hernando State College students are getting an extra-long weekend courtesy of Hurricane Irma. The college on Wednesday announced its intention to close down ahead of the storm.

The college plans to close its doors Thursday, Sept. 7 and Friday. “Normal operations are expected to resume on Monday, Sept. 11,” Courtney Boettcher, the college’s spokeswoman, wrote in an email to media. Students are asked to monitor the college’s website for any changes. (For more hurricane news or local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from New Port Richey Patch, and click here to find your local Florida Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

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Hurricane Irma, the most powerful Atlantic storm ever recorded, was passing over the northernmost Virgin Islands Wednesday afternoon, packing maximum sustained winds of 185 mph. The potentially catastrophic Category 5 storm’s track shifted in the overnight hours to include almost the entire Florida Peninsula.

• Also see: Hurricane Irma Closing In On Florida

By Wednesday afternoon, hurricane-force winds extended out from Irma by 50 miles from the center. Tropical storm-force winds were extending outward by 185 miles.

While it’s still too early to tell the precise impacts Irma might have on Florida or the United States, forecasters say she bears close monitoring. Irma is expected to remain a major hurricane through the week. The threat Irma poses to Florida prompted Gov. Rick Scott to declare a state of emergency on Monday. The declaration includes all 67 counties within the Sunshine State.

Image courtesy of the National Hurricane Center