Governor declares 41 of Florida's 67 counties under a state of emergency.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency for 41 of Florida's 67 counties in advance of "Potential Tropical Cyclone Nine," according to an executive order released Monday.

"There is a significant threat of storm surge, coastal flooding and erosion, heavy rainfall and flash flooding, and damaging winds to the Florida Gulf Coast," the order says, and "due to ... Hurricane Debby, the water tables and river levels across North and West-Central Florida remain above normal, and the additional incoming heavy rainfall will likely cause significant flooding."

The state of emergency affects Alachua, Bay, Bradford, Calhoun, Charlotte, Citrus, Collier, Columbia, Dixie, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Gulf, Hamilton, Hernando, Hillsborough, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lee, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Madison, Manatee, Marion, Monroe, Okaloosa, Pasco, Pinellas, Santa Rosa, Sarasota, Sumter, Suwannee, Taylor, Union, Wakulla, Walton, and Washington counties.

As the system reaches sustained windspeeds of 39 mph, it would become Tropical Storm Helene.

The National Hurricane Center issued its first advisory on the system at 11 a.m. Eastern time, along with tropical storm warnings and hurricane watches for portions of Mexico and Cuba.

Rapid intensification is possible, the Center said, adding models show the system has the potential to strengthen into a major hurricane over the next 72 hours. A major hurricane is a Category 3 or higher storm, with sustained winds of at least 111 mph.

And AccuWeather forecasters have predicted the system could become a Category 3 hurricane before making landfall, possibly on Florida's Panhandle.

Declaring a state of emergency allows state and local governments much more freedom to coordinate their emergency agencies, relax restrictions, cut through red tape and reallocate resources to quickly deal with an imminent or ongoing threat that local services can't handle on their own.

More: What does it mean when the governor declares a state of emergency in Florida?

Stay with Tallahassee.com for the latest on this developing weather story.

(This story was updated to add new information.)