CitrusCountyNetwork.com

Hurricane Season is always a busy time for the Citrus County Network. We try and bring you the most complete weather center for Citrus County. With radar maps and links to Emergency Manangement everything you need is at your fingertips.

Now we are happy to annouce that we have added Live Interactive Hurricane Tracking to our site.  You can now track tropical storms and hurricanes right on the Citrus County Network. Follow the path of Ike as he moves across the Gulf, click on a point in the future and see how far away the storm will be. You can also see the probability of wind for our area in the future path of the storm.

This new service is brought to you free to help keep you informed and be prepared. Please check out our new tracking then come back here and leave a comment to let us know what you think of our updated weather section.

Well looks like we have dodged a bullet again this time. Hurricane Ike has moved far enough west that Florida is no Longer in the cone of uncertainty.

MIAMI (AP) 9:00 a.m. — Hurricane Ike has weakened to Category 2 storm as it moves over Cuba.

Meanwhile, a tropical storm warning was issued early Monday for the Florida Keys.

As of early Monday, Ike had maximum sustained winds near 105 mph. And forecasters expect further weakening as the hurricane moves over central Cuba on Monday.

The hurricane is centered about 40 miles east-southeast of Camaguey, Cuba, and moving west near 15 mph. The storm is located at 21.2 N and 77.3

Hurricane Ike is still a very serious threat for Areas from Louisiana to Texas, as it is projected to stregthen back to a category 3 before it makes landfall around Friday midday. We will keep watch over this storm and any others that may form and threaten the US. Stay tuned to our Weather Center for tracking, maps, and all Citrus County Florida Weather Information.

Tropical Storm Hannah is currently 309 miles due east of Tampa. With wind speeds at 65 mph moving NNW at 20 mph. Currently our morning weather is beautiful cool and dry. However this may not last very long with hurricane Ike making his way into the area.

Hurricane Ike is currently a category 3 storm with winds of 125 mph, moving west at 15 mph. Ike is currently just over 1500 miles away from Tampa but on his current path could affect our weather by Wednesday. This storm is a dangerous threat to Florida and here in Citrus County we could be affected as well.

Being prepared is the key to any disaster. Please visit our weather pages to keep updated of the storms movements. I will be updating the weather sections and this blog as more information starts coming in, as well as adding more features to the site.

Fay has finally departed and has headed off to the west. She is now just a low pressure area. She definitely brought us some much needed rain. Minor damage has been seen throughout Citrus County. I personally have seen a couple of trees down but not too much. The flooding has all subsided now as well.

All in all we faired pretty well. Do you have any Storm stories or pictures? Please send them into us so we may post them here on the site. You can either email them or just post a comment here on the blog.  We would really love to hear from you.

We tried our best to keep the information up to date and accurate through out the storm. Some of our info was posted before the news even reported it. Did we miss anything? IS there something you were hoping to find on the site but couldn’t? Let us know and we will get it added for you.

Thank you for using the Citrus County Network for all your weather information and important links. Please don’t forget to tell a friend about the Citrus County Network.com

The Sherriff’s dept has posted the following information.

Shelters will open at 4 p.m. at the following locations:

General population: Lecanto Middle School.

Pet Friendly Shelter: Lecanto Primary School.

Special Needs Shelter: Renaissance Center.

All shelters are located at the Lecanto School Complex off of County Road 491 (Lecanto Highway) in Lecanto.

They have also announced the following road closures

Cutler Spur, North of Kings Bay Drive
SE 2nd Ct., North of Kings Bay Drive
Citrus Ave., South of NE 3rd. St.
NW 16th St., East of NW 21st Ct.
NW 20th Ave, South of NW 19th St.
NW 6th Ave, North of Crystal St.
SE Paradise Point Rd. from Paradise Cir. to Cutler Spur
NE 2nd St. from NE 1st Ave. to Citrus Ave.
NE 5th St., West of Citrus Ave.
Fern Dr., South of NW 6th St.

We will keep you posted as we get more info. Please send in your pictures of flooding and wind damage to photos@citruscountynetwork.com and we will post them tommorrow.

Crystal River Florida 8/22/08 9:30 am

Hello everyone by looking at the roads right now it appears like everyone took the day off today. We are open at the Citrus County Network. Our location is 7990 W. Gulf to Lake Hwy in Crystal River. I also own AirCom Wireless and Etched Designs as well. We are open till 5:30

We will continue to post information about the storm as we get it. If you are out and about please take pictures of any flooding that you see and send it to photos@citruscountynetwork.com and we will get it posted for everyone to see. Read the rest…

Citrus County schools will be closed on Friday, August 22, 2008.

Citrus County is expecting 4 – 8 inches of rainfall over the next three-day period. Winds are expected to be 10-20 mph with possible gusts of up to 45 mph as the rain bands move through the area. The 45 mph wind gusts are expected to start this evening and last through daybreak on Friday morning. No storm surge is expected. Tides are expected to be 1-3 feet above normal. There is a flood watch in effect for Citrus County.

I our continuing efforts to provide you with storm information we have the sandbag locations that are now opened. Please stay tuned to our Blog for more information as we get it, including any school closures or storm shelters if they are needed. The following is from the EOC website. Read the rest…