CEDAR KEY, Fla. (AP) — Follow reside updates about Hurricane Idalia, which has made landfall in Florida as a harmful Category 3 storm, unleashing life-threatening storm surges and rainfall.
— Feeding on among the hottest water on the planet, Hurricane Idalia is quickly strengthening because it bears down on Florida
— A uncommon blue supermoon might play a job in an unfolding catastrophe as Hurricane Idalia takes purpose at Florida’s west coast
— Florida’s Big Bend is likely one of the final actually pure locations within the state. Now it’s within the bull’s-eye of a serious hurricane
Hurricane Idalia made landfall on Florida’s west coast as a harmful Category 3 storm on Wednesday, unleashing life-threatening storm surges and rainfall.
Idalia got here ashore within the frivolously populated Big Bend area, the place the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula. The end result could possibly be a giant blow to a state nonetheless coping with lingering harm from final yr’s Hurricane Ian.
The National Weather Service in Tallahassee referred to as Idalia “an unprecedented event” since no main hurricanes on report have ever handed by way of the bay abutting the Big Bend.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned individuals within the path of Hurricane Idalia to “just hunker down until it gets past you.”
The National Hurricane Center expects storm surge to achieve as much as 16 toes (5 meters) in some areas of the Big Bend area, DeSantis stated Wednesday at a information convention. Northeast Florida already had 11 twister warnings and there have been extra attainable, he stated.
At 7 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Idalia was about 55 miles (90 kilometers) west of Cedar Key and 65 miles (105 kilometers) south of Tallahassee, the National Hurricane Center stated. It was shifting north at 18 mph (30 kph).
The U.S. Coast Guard is on standby and has pre-positioned 15 plane and greater than 25 cutters and 20 flood response groups which can be ready to reply within the wake of the storm, Rear Admiral Douglas Schofield stated. Crews flew over the western Florida space as much as the Big Bend space and made call-outs to mariners to hunt shelter. They’re able to launch plane for pressing maritime search and rescue within the Tampa and Big Bend areas because the storm passes, he stated.
Hurricane Idalia strengthened to a harmful Category 4 storm Wednesday morning because it steamed towards Florida’s Big Bend area and threatened to unleash life-threatening storm surges and rainfall.
Florida residents residing in weak coastal areas had been ordered to pack up and go away as Hurricane Idalia gained power within the heat waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and authorities warned of a “catastrophic storm surge and destructive winds” when the storm strikes ashore later Wednesday morning.
Idalia was projected to return ashore as a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of at the least 130 mph (200 kph) within the frivolously populated Big Bend area, the place the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula. The end result could possibly be a giant blow to a state nonetheless coping with lingering harm from final yr’s Hurricane Ian. It had grown right into a Category 2 system on Tuesday afternoon and have become a Category 3 simply hours earlier Wednesday.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”