A satellite image of Hurricane Idalia in the USA.NOAA (via Portal)
“Extremely Dangerous” Hurricane Idalia has hit Florida’s northwest coast. The weather service warns that the storm, now a Category 3 with winds of 125 miles per hour and reaching 4 in the Gulf of Mexico, will bring “catastrophic flooding” and a “destructive” storm. Full or partial evacuation orders have been issued in thirty of the state’s 67 counties, while more than 100,000 people in the state are already without power.
Idalia, which had already left severe damage in the Cuban province of Pinar del Río on Monday and forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes, entered the United States at 7:45 a.m. (1:45 p.m. Spanish peninsular time) through the area known as “Big Bend” where the Florida Peninsula in the Gulf of Mexico connects to the rest of the continent. It is a swampy area with small fishing villages and sparsely populated, where a hurricane of this magnitude has never been detected and where rising sea waters on the coast are feared to cause floods between 3.6 and 4.9 meters high could areas.
“They won’t be able to survive this,” warned the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, urging the affected population to evacuate the area as quickly as possible. “Don’t play with the storm,” he warned, “it will have a significant impact.”
“We have never seen a storm this strong,” said Heath David, the mayor of Cedar Key Island in Big Bend, urging the nearly 100 residents still in the area to leave immediately. As a dozen local police officers went door to door warning every resident, Commissioner Sue Colson insisted: “In a word: Go away.” “It’s nothing to discuss.”
After landfall, the storm is expected to cross the Florida Peninsula northeast toward the coasts of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, likely still at hurricane strength, the National Weather Service said. State governors have declared a state of emergency.
Idalia was moving north at 15 miles per hour through a state still trying to recover from the effects of last year’s Hurricane Ian, which killed 150 people and left a trail of destruction in its path across the country peninsula left .
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In a press conference this morning, DeSantis and other Florida officials suggested that the hurricane would certainly knock down power lines and poles, among other foreseeable damage. Downed poles and trees and flooding will block roads. 30,000 employees of the electricity works are already on duty to carry out the necessary repairs. The National Guard and Coast Guard are also mobilized for search and rescue and damage assessment tasks.
“Don’t go out in the middle of all this. Do not drive through flooded streets after the storm. Do not touch fallen cables, remember that you can still have electricity,” the governor warned the population.
Two of the region’s major airports have suspended commercial operations, and MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa Bay – where flooding is expected – has moved several aircraft to other, safer areas. Schools and some universities will remain closed until at least Thursday.
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