Intensifying Idalia threatens Florida's Gulf Coast with storm surges
By Marco Bello and Joseph Ax
CEDAR KEY, Florida (Reuters) -Hurricane Idalia was strengthening on Tuesday as it lumbered toward Florida's Gulf Coast, where officials ordered evacuations and urged millions of residents to brace for a possible major Category 3 storm when it makes landfall on Wednesday.
Idalia was expected to intensify rapidly before slamming ashore on Wednesday morning, according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC).
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis urged residents in low-lying areas to heed orders to seek higher ground, warning that the storm surge could cause life-threatening floods.
«If you are told to evacuate, you have to do that now,» he said at a Tuesday morning news briefing. Evacuation orders have been issued in 22 counties, and more than 20 emergency shelters have been opened, he said.
The NHC projected Idalia's center would likely cross Florida's coastline somewhere in the Big Bend region, where the state's northern panhandle curves around into the Gulf side of the Florida Peninsula. The area, roughly between the inland cities of Tallahassee and Gainesville, is much more lightly populated than the Tampa-St. Petersburg area to the south.
Despite the latest projection, the path of the intensifying storm was uncertain as it spun northward over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, a day after passing just west of Cuba, where tens of thousands evacuated ahead of flooding and high winds.
Idalia intensified into a hurricane early on Tuesday. It was expected to reach Category 3 force — classified as a major hurricane, with sustained winds of at least 111 mph (179 kph) — on the five-step Saffir-Simpson wind scale by the time it reaches Florida on Wednesday, the NHC said.
SURGES UP TO 12 FEET
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