Hurricane Dorian, the fourth major development of the hurricane season, is expected to slam into the East Florida coast as a Category 4 hurricane some time Monday morning.

EMA Director Herb Reeves said it’s too early to tell exactly what that will mean for Pike County as there is still much uncertainty of the storm’s exact track.

“A lot depends on when it comes across Florida,” Reeves said. “Could it enter the Gulf? It’s too early to tell. But it’s expected to come across Florida on Monday and Tuesday and we’ll see from there.”

Depending on where the hurricane tracks in the next two days, Reeves said the county can expect evacuees to take refuge in the area, as they did during hurricanes Michael and Irma in recent years.

Regardless of the track, Reeves said residents should be prepared in the case that the hurricane continues westward and brings stronger winds to the region.

With 86-degree water as fuel and favorable moist winds, there’s little to prevent the storm from powering up Friday. The hurricane center predicts Dorian will make landfall on Labor Day as a Category 4 storm with 130 mph winds.

A high pressure system is building over Bermuda, acting as a wall and blocking storms from curving north, which is a natural pathway. It is essentially pushing Dorian westward, more toward densely populated southern Florida, said University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy.