Hurricane Idalia is heading for Florida’s Gulf Coast and could be the strongest storm to hit the Big Bend area in a century.
Idalia is currently unleashing heavy rains in western Cuba, with residents warned of flooding and landslides.
But the hurricane is expected to turn north-northeast Tuesday and Wednesday and move at a faster pace, with Idalia expected to hit Florida’s west coast on Wednesday.
The hurricane is currently just north of Santa Lucia, on the east coast of Cuba, with winds of 120 km/h. It is moving at 22 km/h towards the north, but should gain ground as it moves over the Gulf of Mexico.
Hurricane Idalia is expected to hit the Panama City area on the Florida coast early Wednesday morning with winds up to 180 km/h. But as it heads toward Tallahassee, further inland, it will gain even more strength and could become a Category 3 hurricane.
After crossing Florida, Idalia is expected to cross Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.
The National Hurricane Center has warned that there is a risk of life-threatening storm surge flooding, which could reach up to 12 feet above the ground, along Florida’s Gulf Coast, including the Bay. of Tampa and the Big Bend area of Florida.
The latest trajectory projections from the NHC show that the center of Idalia is likely to cross the Florida coast somewhere in the Big Bend region, where the state’s northern panhandle curves toward the gulf side of the Florida peninsula.
The hurricane was gaining strength and uncertainty about its path as it turned north over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico has placed some 14 million Florida residents under hurricane warnings. hurricane and tropical storm.
Authorities said the main threat to human life in Idalia came from rising seawater walls which would be pushed inland by strong winds, flooding low-lying coastal areas.
Storm surge warnings were posted for hundreds of miles of shoreline, from the Sarasota area north to Tampa and extending to the sport fishing haven of Indian Pass on the western end of Apalachicola Bay.
“Wait your belt for this one,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said during a Monday press briefing.
Idalia is expected to reach Category 3 strength — classified as a major hurricane — on the five-step Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale by the time it makes landfall in Florida on Wednesday, the NHC said.
It would be the fourth major hurricane to hit Florida in the past seven years, following Irma in 2017, Michael in 2018 and Ian, which peaked at a Category 5 last September.
The NHC said Idalia was moving about 135km from the western tip of Cuba as it headed north, with maximum sustained winds of 75mph (120kph).
The map shows the risk of storm surges on the Florida coast
A graphic shows the risks posed to Florida residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia
A graph shows the risks posed to Florida residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia in terms of wind
The NHC has released a graph showing the expected wind speed in the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia.
This graph shows how the south coast of Florida will be hit by hurricane-force winds.
Florida residents loaded up with sandbags and were evacuated from their homes in low-lying areas along the Gulf Coast as Hurricane Idalia is expected to begin affecting Florida with hurricane-force winds as early as Tuesday evening.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency in 46 counties, a wide swath that stretches across the northern half of the state from the Gulf Coast to the Atlantic Coast.
The state has mobilized 1,100 members of the National Guard, who have 2,400 ocean-going vehicles and 12 aircraft for rescue and recovery efforts.
Tampa International Airport and St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport announced their closures on Tuesday, and Sunrail commuter rail service in Orlando was suspended.
DeSantis warned of a “major impact” on the state, pointing to the potential for Idalia to become a Category 3 hurricane.
“Property – we can rebuild someone’s house,” DeSantis said at a press conference on Monday. “But you can’t ring the bell if someone is left in danger and fighting against Mother Nature.”
DeSantis said the Florida Department of Transportation will remove tolls on Tampa and Big Bend-area freeways starting at 4 a.m. Tuesday to help ease the burden on people in the storm’s path.
This graph shows the increased risk of flash flooding following Hurricane Idalia.
Eye of the Storm: Tropical Storm Idalia is expected to develop into a hurricane on Monday and bring life-threatening and potentially catastrophic storm surges, winds and torrential rains to the Gulf Coast of Florida, starting Tuesday and Wednesday, in as a Category 3 storm. Pictured: A view of Earth from space shows Hurricane Franklin east of Florida and Tropical Storm Idalia in the Gulf of Mexico as it approaches Florida.
Families in Bellview, Florida fill sandbags ahead of Tropical Storm Idalia
Collier County employees fill sandbags for residents as they prepare for Idalia at North Collier Regional Park in Naples
Large parts of Florida’s west coast are prone to storm surge and flooding. Evacuation notices have been issued in 21 counties with mandatory orders for certain people in eight of those counties.
Many of the advisories were aimed at residents of low-lying and coastal areas, those living in structures such as mobile and manufactured homes, recreational vehicles and boats, and people who would be vulnerable in the event of a power outage.
Pasco and Levy counties, located north of Tampa, have both ordered the mandatory evacuation of some residents. In Levy County, authorities said Cedar Key residents must vacate the island by Tuesday evening because storm surges will render bridges impassable.
“Once the storm surge arrives, help may no longer be available to reach you,” the county said in a public notice.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami issued a hurricane warning on Monday from Longboat Key in the Sarasota area to the Holocene River beyond Tampa Bay.
Many school districts along the Gulf Coast announced they would be closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Several colleges and universities announced they would close their campuses on Tuesday, including the University of Florida in Gainesville.
“They told us that our dorm, in particular, was prone to flooding,” said Erin Amiss, a student at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg.
MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa Bay is preparing to evacuate several aircraft and began a mandatory evacuation Monday morning for personnel who live in local counties, the Air Force said in a statement.
Tampa resident Grace Cruz, who has lived in the state for more than 40 years, put away her patio furniture, refueled and loaded sandbags. She was worried about the fate of tens of thousands of new Florida residents who had never experienced a hurricane before, and she had some advice for them.
“If you’re planning on getting away from it all, you have to start early because of the traffic,” Cruz said. ‘No kidding. It’s horrible.’
As Gulf Coast residents packed up their cars or pulled out their generators in the event of a power outage, state officials warned of potential fuel contamination at dozens of gas stations.
President Joe Biden spoke with DeSantis on Monday morning, telling the Florida governor he had approved an emergency declaration for the state, the White House said in a press release. DeSantis is a candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Southwest Florida is still recovering from Hurricane Ian, which killed nearly 150 people last year. The Category 5 hurricane damaged 52,000 structures, of which nearly 20,000 were destroyed or severely damaged.
So far this year, the East Coast of the United States has been spared from cyclones. But in the West, earlier this month, Tropical Storm Hilary caused widespread flooding, mudslides and road closures in Mexico, California, Nevada and parts of the north.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently said the 2023 hurricane season will be much busier than originally anticipated, in part due to extremely warm ocean temperatures. The season runs until November 30, with usually August and September as the peak.
