Hurricane Idalia barreled down Florida’s Gulf Coast as a terrifying Category 3 storm early Wednesday, threatening “catastrophic” storm surge and scorching winds of more than 125 mph.
The storm was moving northeast at 18 mph around 7 a.m., when Sunshine State Governor Ron DeSantis warned that the major hurricane was expected to make landfall in the Big Bend region around 8 a.m.
Although it was downgraded early Wednesday to Category 3, warned the National Hurricane Center“This change in wind speed does not lessen the threat of catastrophic storm surge and damaging winds.”
The storm moved over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico before heading northeast and is expected to make landfall around the Big Bend region, a sparsely populated area where the peninsula merges with the Panhandle.
Officials warned there could be “catastrophic storm surge and destructive winds” when the storm makes landfall later Wednesday morning.
The National Weather Service office in Tallahassee called the storm “unprecedented” as no major hurricane has ever been recorded to pass through the bay adjoining the Big Bend region.
Officials urged residents of Taylor and Dixie counties to take shelter immediately as winds reached more than 130 mph and storm surges are expected to reach 16 feet.
“If you end up with a storm surge that even approaches 16 feet, then the chance of survival is not very great,” DeSantis told reporters Wednesday.
More than 60,000 customers were without power statewide Wednesday morning, according to data from poweroutage.us.
DeSantis said 49 of the state’s 67 counties were under a state of emergency.
It was projected to make landfall Wednesday morning as a Category 4 storm with winds of at least 130 mph in the sparsely populated Big Bend region, where the Florida Panhandle curves toward the peninsula.
The storm’s impact could be a major blow to a state still dealing with lingering damage from last year’s Hurricane Ian.
On the island of Cedar Key, Commissioner Sue Colson was among city officials packing up documents and electronic devices at City Hall on Tuesday.
He also urged the nearly 900 residents who were under mandatory evacuation orders to follow them.
A street in Gulfport, Florida, floods as the eye of Hurricane Idalia moves toward the state. Gulfport, FL Public Webcam
“One word: go,” Colson said. “It’s not something to discuss.”
DeSantis repeated the warning at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
“You really have to go now. Now is the time,” she stated. Previously, the governor stressed that residents did not necessarily have to leave the state, but rather “get to higher ground in a secure structure.”
Not everyone heeded the warning. Andy Bair, owner of the Island Hotel, said he intended to “babysit” his pre-Civil War bed and breakfast.
The National Weather Service in Tallahassee called Idalia “an unprecedented event” as no major hurricane has ever been recorded to pass through the bay adjacent to Big Bend. EM Hillock / SplashNews.com
The building hasn’t flooded in the nearly 20 years he’s owned it, not even when Hurricane Hermine flooded the city in 2016.
“As the caretaker of the oldest building on Cedar Key, I feel like I need to be here,” Bair said. “We have shown time and time again that we are not going to disappear. We may be a little uncomfortable for a couple of days, but we’ll be fine eventually.”
Tolls on highways outside the danger zone were removed, shelters opened, and hotels prepared to receive evacuees.
More than a dozen state troopers went door-to-door warning residents that storm surge could reach up to 15 feet.EM Hillock/SplashNews.com
More than 30,000 utility workers were gathering to make repairs as quickly as possible after the hurricane.
Some 5,500 National Guard troops were activated.
Walt Disney World has announced it will close its Typhoon Lagoon water park, Winter Summerland miniature golf and Fantasia Gardens miniature golf to prepare for Wednesday’s storm.
Residents of Batabano, Cuba, stand outside their home in a flooded neighborhood after Hurricane Idalia approached the island on Monday. AFP via Getty Images
In Tarpon Springs, a coastal community northwest of Tampa, 60 patients were evacuated from a hospital fearing the system could deliver a 7-foot storm surge.
After landing in the Big Bend region, Idalia is forecast to cross the Florida peninsula and then soak into southern Georgia and the Carolinas on Thursday.
Both Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced states of emergency, freeing up state resources and personnel, including hundreds of National Guard troops.
People in Cedar Key load their belongings past a plywood-covered building as the town prepares for the hurricane. CRISTÓBAL HERRERA-ULASHKEVICH/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
An employee secures plywood in front of a store in Cedar Key, Florida, as Hurricane Idalia moves toward mainland Florida.CRISTOBAL HERRERA-ULASHKEVICH/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
“We will be prepared to the best of our ability,” said Russell Guess, who was filling up his truck with gas in Valdosta, Georgia. His coworkers at Cunningham Tree Service were doing the same. “There will be trees in people’s houses, trees along power lines.”
As of 2 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Idalia was about 100 miles southwest of Cedar Key and 175 miles south of Tallahassee, the National Hurricane Center said.
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