Hurricane Dorian is threatening to strike Florida near Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s prized South Florida resort.
The storm is projected to make landfall as a Category 4 hurricane on Monday, with Melbourne as the most likely landing spot. That’s about 115 miles north of Palm Beach, where Trump’s ocean-front hotel is situated. Mar-a-Lago remains in the “cone of uncertainty" — the range of potential paths the hurricane could take as it strengthens in the Caribbean.
Previous hurricane models suggested Dorian could pass right through the so-called Winter White House, a frequent destination for Trump’s working vacations. As of Thursday morning, though, the storm’s path has shifted slightly north as it slows its forward motion and intensifies.
The south side of a hurricane is typically the safer side of a storm.
The U.S. Secret Service declined to respond to questions about any security measures taken at Mar-a-Lago during an extreme weather event and directed questions to the resort. The Trump Organization and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump has tweeted he is monitoring the storm, first celebrating the storm had spared Puerto Rico before warning Floridians it was headed their way.
“It will be a very big Hurricane, perhaps one of the biggest!” Trump wrote.
Guests of Mar-a-Lago were forced to evacuate during Hurricane Irma in 2017. Trump once claimed the property sustained $17 million in damage during the infamous 2005 hurricane season, but an Associated Press investigation found little evidence the private club took a hit.
The seaside resort was built in 1927. Trump purchased it in 1985.
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