Officials in Florida will spend their Labor Day weekend cleaning up in the aftermath of what was once Hurricane Hermine.

  • Up to 75 percent of north west Florida counties are without power
  • Pasco and Pinellas residents should receive power by midnight Saturday, governor says

At a press conference Saturday morning, Gov. Rick Scott presented a bleak scene for the state's Big Bend — stating that between 25 percent and 75 percent of the residents in the eight counties that comprise the region remain without power.

“I expect every city and county official to aggressively address that problem," said Scott. "We have got to get these people their power back.”

While flooding and storm surge were the biggest issues facing coastal communities from Pasco County north, the Governor said that Tallahassee's downed trees produced massive damage.

In the capital city, crews are currently pulling 16-hour shifts, 24-hours a day, until power resumes for all residents. Florida State University, FAMU and many government buildings are among those structures impacted by the outage.

Closer to home, the governor stated that local leaders are aiming to bring power back to Pasco and Pinellas residents by midnight Saturday.

Requests for aid from other states have begun trickling in, but until power is resumed and flooding has subsided in the Sunshine State, the governor said he's not prepared to make those commitments.

“I want to take care of every state," stated Scott, "but I need to focus on Florida.”

Twelve state parks remained closed Saturday, which is a lot — but an improvement from the 34 that were closed Friday.

The governor ended the conference urging people to stay out of the water due to the possibility of rip currents and reminded everyone that Zika is still a very real threat to Florida's pregnant population.