Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Florida on Wednesday morning as an “extremely dangerous” Category 3 storm, with maximum sustained winds near 125 mph, the National Hurricane Center said. The agency added that “catastrophic storm surge and damaging winds” were “ongoing” in the region.
Idalia made landfall around 7:45 a.m. Eastern time along Florida’s Big Bend, near Keaton Beach, the agency said, citing radar data. It tied with an 1896 hurricane as the strongest on record to strike the Big Bend region.
Idalia is expected to bolt northeastward and bring a dangerous combination of strong winds, heavy rain and coastal flooding to northeastern Florida, southeastern Georgia and the eastern Carolinas through Thursday.
Florida’s Big Bend area is particularly vulnerable to storm surge because of the adjacent gently sloping seafloor, which makes it easy for water to pile up along the coast and penetrate miles inland.
The National Hurricane Center warned Florida residents to prepare for long power outages and said some locations may be uninhabitable for several weeks or months. Parts of eastern Georgia and southeastern South Carolina also could experience damaging winds.
President Biden is expected to give a speech at 1:45 p.m. at the White House, laying out his administration’s response to Hurricane Idalia, including the federal resources that will be deployed to support the state’s response and recovery effort.
(c) 2023, The Washington Post · Jason Samenow, Niha Masih, Kelsey Ables, Annabelle Timsit, Ben Brasch
Biden looking for VOTES from Floridians – too late Mr Biden – FLORIDA belongs to President DeSantis.
where were you in Maui????????? “no comment” ?????
Who is president Desantis? As far as I know, there never was and never will be.