Hurricane Dorian- Expanded WiFi hotspots across Florida

Expanded WiFi hotspots across Florida

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued a release Friday that Comcast will be opening a network of 200,000 Xfinity WiFi hotspots throughout the state to anyone, even non-customers, free of charge, to help residents and emergency personnel stay connected.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will be establishing a mobile communications team to ensure emergency communications continue during the storm.

DeSantis also said Florida Highway Patrol will be escorting fuel trucks to ensure fuel reaches "critical areas."

DeSantis said 99.6% of nursing homes have a generator or have arrangements in place. Three days after Hurricane Irma hit in 2017, four residents died inside a nursing home in south Florida. Another four residents died shortly after the nursing home was evacuated. And four more died in the days and weeks that followed. The Broward County Medical Examiner ruled the deaths as homicides.

Additionally, DeSantis said 95.6% of assisted living facilities have an onsite generator.

The major building boom in Miami is leading to worries about the safety of construction cranes when Dorian hits, CBS Miami reported. Hurricane Irma's powerful winds snapped three cranes at South Florida construction sites in 2017.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said the city is taking aggressive steps regarding crane safety. He said companies have been told that cranes must be secured before the arrival of the storm and anyone failing to do so will face hefty fines.

"We've already informed the crane operators and contractors that they have to secure their cranes," Suarez said. "We saw obviously during Hurricane Irma that we had multiple cranes that failed and were a huge danger to our residents."

Miami resident Jake Edelstein said he is concerned about the cranes and what the winds from Hurricane Dorian might do. Edelstein rents a condo in the downtown Miami area not far from where 3 cranes collapsed in September of 2017 after Hurricane Irma.

"In the past cranes have fallen in South Florida and they are building here so much and I'm so concerned about a hurricane of this size," said Edelstein. "My biggest concerns in this neighborhood is that I live in around Biscayne Boulevard and what could potentially happen."

Marc Price also hopes all of the cranes in the area where he lives and around Miami-Dade are secured properly. "Of course, I realize there has to be a high standard and I know they're making preparations but this is hard with what the weather can do. I know the process is costly and takes time it is a conundrum," said Price.