Governor Patrick speaks on Hurricane Earl

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. – At the MEMA headquarters in Framingham, Governor Deval Patrick held a press conference to update the public on Hurricane Earl Friday afternoon.

“The National Weather Service has projected now that it is weakening to a Category 1 hurricane from a Category 3 hurricane that was projected or forecast yesterday, and that is good news, or better news on the weather front for us,” said Governor Patrick.

Although the intensity of the hurricane is decreasing, the Cape and the Islands remain under a hurricane warning, and the state of emergency in the Commonwealth remains in effect.

Governor Patrick reminded everyone that there will still be riptides, strong currents, tropical storm force winds and hurricane storm force gusts. Heavy rain is also expected to occur between 8:00 p.m. Friday evening and 2:00 a.m. on Saturday.

It is expected to be sunny on the Cape on Saturday, but the conditions and threat to the public remains through Friday night according to Gov. Patrick.

“We are well prepared, the National Guard has been deployed and is up and ready, the state police have added troopers as well. Water and other commodities have been prepositioned on the Cape and the Islands if they should be needed,” said Gov. Patrick.

Debris clearance teams have been mobilized, shelters are ready, search and rescue teams have been activated should they be needed.

According to Gov. Patrick, the public should continue to take precautions by staying indoors and remaining off the roads during the height of the storm, and exercise extreme caution Friday afternoon when the winds begin to pick up.

“We are doing absolutely everything we can to assure that the public remains safe,” said Gov. Patrick.

“The State of Emergency Operations Center is now fully staffed and activate and the state is at a high level of readiness and preparedness and will be shifting in the hours ahead as the storm gets to us from a planning mode that we’ve been in to a response mode,” said Kurt Schwartz from the State Emergency Operations Center.

Damage will be assessed as early as possible Saturday morning by assessment teams on the Cape and Islands.

“This is a storm that comes across that we should not necessarily be afraid, but something that we should respect,” said Richard Serino, the Deputy Administrator of FEMA.

(Copyright (c) 2010 Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)