FL, GA, and Carolinas on high alert as Dorian strengthens into Category 5 storm
Category 5 Hurricane Dorian makes landfall in the Bahamas, bringing 225-mph wind gusts with it.
With Hurricane Dorian approaching the U.S., the major airlines are canceling hundreds of flights on Labor Day weekend.
More than 600 flights scheduled for Monday were canceled the day before, according to flight tracker FlightAware.
Most were flights out of Orlando.
CONTINUING COVERAGE OF HURRICANE DORIAN ON FOX NEWS CHANNEL
As of Sunday evening, there were 227 flight cancellations at Orlando's main airport and an additional 62 at Orlando Sanford International Airport, according to FlightAware.
At Fort Lauderdale International Airport, cancellations numbered more than 160.
In West Palm Beach, cancellations were nearing 100 flights at the smaller Palm Beach International Airport.
In addition to potential storm damage, major travel headaches could be in store for this week.
Major airlines allowed travelers to change reservations without fees, big cruise lines rerouted their ships and Cumberland Island National Seashore off Georgia closed to visitors.
Disney World and Orlando’s other resorts held off announcing any closings for the time being.
For Florida, it’s likely to come down to a matter of a handful of miles between relative safety and potential devastation. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Dorian is forecast to be 40 to 50 miles off the Florida coast with hurricane-force wind speeds extending about 35 miles to the west.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The National Hurricane Center Sunday morning issued a hurricane watch for Florida’s East Coast from Deerfield Beach north to the Volusia and Brevard county line. The same area was put under a storm surge watch as well. Lake Okeechobee was put under a tropical storm watch.
The hurricane struck the Bahamas, the largely flat archipelago southeast of Florida, on Sunday as a catastrophic Category 5 storm with 185 mph winds.