Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has issued a state of emergency for 49 of the state’s 67 counties after severe weather began plowing through the Panhandle Tuesday morning heading east.

“[T]he Storm Prediction Center is forecasting an Enhanced Risk for severe thunderstorms across North Florida and a Slight Risk for severe weather across Central Florida on Tuesday as a well-defined line of strong storms continues to advance eastward into the State,” said the executive order, which the governor’s office sent out via email at 11:32 a.m.

Among other things, the order accesses funding sources, activates the National Guard, and designates the director of the Division of Emergency Management to execute the state’s comprehensive emergency management plan and “other response, recovery, and mitigation plans necessary to cope with the emergency.”

The 49 affected counties include all of those in North Central Florida, including Alachua, Levy, Gilchrist, Dixie, Suwannee, Columbia, Bradford, Union, Putnam and Marion counties.

The storms are expected to yield winds as high as 70 miles per hour, tornadoes and flash flooding.

The Panhandle was already under tornado warnings Tuesday morning as initial damage reports emerged, including power outages.

The National Weather Services issued a severe weather alert on Monday, prompting Alachua County and other school districts in the region to cancel Tuesday classes.

At 11:51 a.m., the Alachua County Library District announced it would close all 12 library locations at noon “out of an abundance of caution.” The district will return to normal operating hours on Wednesday.