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Hurricane Idalia made landfall as a Category-3 on Wednesday morning bringing “catastrophic storm surge” to parts of Florida.
The hurricane slammed into the Big Bend area, near Keaton Beach, just before 8am (Eastern Time) with 125mph winds. Storm surge could rise as high as 16 feet in some places.
Idalia rapidly intensified to a Category 4 hurricane overnight before being downgraded as it reached Florida’s west coast where thousands of residents had been ordered to evacuate. Authorities were now in search-and-rescue mode for those in harm’s way who had failed to heed evacuation warnings.
The storm is now a Category-2 after losing power as it moves inland towards Georgia and South Carolina. However the National Hurricane Center warned that Idalia remains “extremely dangerous” and forecasters warned of “catastrophic storm surge”.
“Water levels along the coast of the Florida Big Bend are rising rapidly,” read the latest NHC update.
Along the coastline, homes were underwater up to their rooflines and some structures, boats and docks were being swept away by the power of the storm surge. In Cedar Key, a small island community on the Gulf coast, the storm surge had already reached 6ft.
Away from the coast, authories warned that high levels of rainfall could increase the chance of inland flooding.
Idalia’s impacts were being felt in areas devastated by Hurricane Ian less than a year ago such as Fort Myers. Ian killed 150 people and damaged 52,000 structures.
Some 240,000 customers in Florida and 12,000 in Georgia were without power on Wednesday morning as the powerful winds snapped utility lines. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis‘ press conference in Tallahassee was hit by a power cut as Idalia came ashore.
“Life-threatening” storm surge of 10ft-15ft was expected along with destructive waves between Aucilla River and Yankeetown. Tampa, the state’s third latest city, could see up to 7ft of water.
Hurricane Idalia seen from space on Wednesday morning as it made landfall in Florida
“Hurricane Idalia will likely be an unprecedented event for many locations in the Florida Big Bend. Looking back through recorded history, NO major hurricanes have ever moved through the Apalachee Bay. When you try to compare this storm to others, DON’T. No one has seen this,” NWS Tallahassee office warned on Tuesday.
Evacuation notices were issued in at least 21 counties in western and central Florida with mandatory orders in places. Some 46 Florida counties are under a state of emergency.
The trajectory of Hurricane Idalia
Tolls were waived on Florida highways to allow residents to quickly evacuate. Some 4,500 people were in Red Cross shelters across the state.
More than 30,000 utility workers were gathering to make repairs to the downed power lines, supported by the Army Corps of Engineers.
Tampa General Hospital, the city’s only Level 1 trauma centre located on an island in Hillsborough Bay, was being surrounded by “Aquafences” on Tuesday in attempts to keep out predicted storm surge.
In coastal Tarpon Springs, a community northwest of Tampa, 60 patients were evacuated from a hospital out of concerns of high water levels.
Governor DeSantis said on Tuesday that supplies of food, bottled water and tarps were on standby to move into affected areas and thousands of troops with the Florida National Guard had been activated.
He urged Floridians to heed the warnings, noting that even travelling a short distance could be life-saving.
“You do not have to leave the state. You don’t have to drive hundreds of miles,” he said.
“You have to get to higher ground in a safe structure. You can ride the storm out there, then go back to your home.”
President Joe Biden approved a federal emergency declaration for Florida on Monday. “Florida has my full support as they prepare for Idalia and its aftermath,” he wrote on X, formely known as Twitter.
Hundreds of flights were cancelled at Tampa International Airport while Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando said that it was operating under normal conditions but “closely monitoring” the storm. The company said it was closing the Typhoon Lagoon water park and minature golf areas due to the inclement weather on Wednesday.
Visitors to the Southernmost Point take risks while capturing the impacts of Hurricane Idalia as it passes the Florida Keys some 175 miles to the west, on Tuesday
While most weather models projected that Idalia was moving northeast and out into the Atlantic in the coming days, the Global Forecasting System, a US federal project, indicated that there was an outside chance that the hurricane could circle back and strike Florida for a second time early next week - but with much less power. Such looping is considered highly unusual for tropical storms but is not unprecedented.
Idalia may be the first major storm to hit Florida this hurricane season but it joins a long list of disasters in the United States and globally which are being amplified by the climate crisis.
Ocean temperatures have reached unprecedented highs this summer including in the Gulf of Mexico. Warming oceans fuel stronger tropical cyclones that bring more heavy rainfall and higher storm surge when they make landfall, according to Climate Central.
Idalia has already deluged western Cuba, particularly the province of Pinar del Rio which is also still recovering from Hurricane Ian last year. More than 10,000 people evacuated as up to four inches (10cm) of rain fell, leaving half the province without power.
The Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from 1 June to 30 November, is forecast to be above average this year.
This is a developing news story and this article is being updated
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiaWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmluZGVwZW5kZW50LmNvLnVrL2NsaW1hdGUtY2hhbmdlL25ld3Mvd2VzdC1jb2FzdC1mbG9yaWRhLWh1cnJpY2FuZS1pZGFsaWEtc3VyZ2UtYjI0MDE3NTMuaHRtbNIBAA?oc=5
2023-08-30 14:25:29Z
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