CEDAR KEY, Fla. (AP) — Follow stay 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 task in an unfolding catastrophe as Hurricane Idalia takes intention at Florida’s west coast
— Florida’s Big Bend is likely one of the final really pure locations within the state. Now it’s within the bull’s-eye of a significant hurricane
Hurricane Idalia was knocking out energy in Florida after making landfall Wednesday morning. Over 200,000 prospects had been with out energy early Wednesday within the state, in keeping with PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide. The overwhelming majority of outages had been within the state’s Big Bend area, the place Idalia made landfall. Outages had been anticipated to develop all through the day in Florida, in addition to Georgia and South Carolina.
At 8 a.m., Idalia’s eye was simply inland from the coast, about 10 miles (20 kilometers) south-southeast of Perry, with prime winds of 120 mph (195 kph) and transferring north-northeast at about 18 mph (30 kmh).
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 flippantly populated Big Bend area, the place the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula. The outcome may very well be a giant blow to a state nonetheless coping with lingering harm from final yr’s Hurricane Ian.
The National Weather Service in Tallahassee known 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 folks within the path of Hurricane Idalia to “just hunker down until it gets past you.”
The National Hurricane Center expects storm surge to succeed in as much as 16 ft (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 transferring 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 dwelling 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 come back ashore as a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of at the very least 130 mph (200 kph) within the flippantly populated Big Bend area, the place the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula. The outcome may very well 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”