Hurricane Idalia, a Category 3 storm, hits Florida’s Big Bend region.
Hurricane Idalia Strikes Florida’s Big Bend Region
Hurricane Idalia intensified overnight, reaching Category 3 status, and made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend Region on Wednesday at 7:45 a.m.
By 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Idalia had already unleashed winds of up to 130 miles per hour and flooding had begun.
Idalia Path Tracker: Watch Live to Stay Informed
The ”Big Bend” region refers to the area where the peninsula merges into the Panhandle, just southeast of Tallahassee, the capital, and well north of the Tampa metro area. This is the first major storm to hit the region since Hurricane Easy in 1950.
Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) provided an update at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, warning that the state had already experienced 11 tornado warnings, with the possibility of more to come. DeSantis also mentioned storm swells reaching up to 16 feet and reported that 54,000 households were without power.
Once the initial storm passes over the coastal areas, DeSantis assured that search and rescue efforts would commence. He urged residents to seek shelter in a safe place and emphasized the importance of staying indoors and avoiding flooded streets.
To prepare for the aftermath, the state has allocated 3,000 generators and over 1 million gallons of fuel to bridge the gap between power outages caused by Idalia and the restoration of utilities. DeSantis also reminded everyone not to operate generators inside their homes or garages.
During DeSantis’s press conference on Wednesday, there was a brief power surge, underscoring the urgency of preparing for widespread power outages.
Click here to read more from The Washington Examiner.
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