Hurricane Dorian news – live: Florida stockpiles supplies as forecasters warn storm could grow to Category 4 on approach to US coast

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Tropical storm Dorian moves toward Puerto Rico

The people of Florida are stocking up on essential supplies as Hurricane Dorian zeroes in on the Sunshine State and forecasters warn it could become a Category 4 storm by the time it makes landfall over the Labor Day weekend.

Donald Trump has cancelled a planned trip to Poland in order to oversee the federal response should Dorian smack the state, where Republican governor Ron DeSantis has already declared a state of emergency and where the president's own luxury golf resort Mar-a-Lago lies just 115 miles north of the storm's expected point of impact.

“It's something very important for me to be here,” the president told reporters at the White House. “The storm looks like it could be a very, very big one indeed."

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Key Points

• Floridians stockpile supplies as forecasters monitor growing Atlantic storm
• Trump abandons Poland trip to oversee federal response
• Concerns raised as Mar-a-Lago, Disney World lie in Dorian's path

[30 August 2019 11:00 · Joe Sommerlad]

Hello and welcome to The Independent's rolling coverage of Hurricane Dorian.

[30 August 2019 11:05 · Joe Sommerlad]

The people of Florida are stocking up on essential supplies as Hurricane Dorian zeroes in on the Sunshine State and forecasters warn it could become a Category 4 storm by the time it makes landfall over the Labor Day weekend.

Here's Andrew Buncombe with the latest.

[30 August 2019 11:20 · Joe Sommerlad]

US president Donald Trump has abandoned plans to visit Poland this weekend to observe Second World War commemoration services in order to oversee the federal response to Dorian as the storm barrels towards the US coast, with his own beloved Mar-a-Lago golf resort reportedly at risk.

The Tampa Bay Times says the storm could become a Category 4 hurricane by the time it reaches Florida, where it is expected to make landfall by the town of Melbourne, some 115 miles north of the president's favourite glitzy clubhouse.

On Thursday, Trump warned the coming weather front would be "an absolute monster" after it grazed Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, averting the disaster many feared would be a repeat of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Maria in September 2017.

[30 August 2019 12:00 · Joe Sommerlad]

Here's our correspondent Simon Calder on the travel implications of Hurricane Dorian for those with plans in place to jet out for Florida or the Caribbean.

[30 August 2019 13:00 · Joe Sommerlad]

The latest on Dorian from FEMA's Pete Gaynor on CNN's New Day.