Florida is about to get slammed with a wall of water
The First Major Hurricane to Slide into the Sunshine Coast: Hurricane Idalia, the Florida Department of Environment, Nature, and Public Works
Idalia (pronounced ee-DAL-ya) is the first major hurricane to threaten the U.S. mainland this Atlantic season, which is expected to be more active than usual. Climate change is believed to have contributed to record-breaking ocean temperatures off the Florida coast.
Florida officials are urging everyone along the Gulf Coast to make their final preparations for Hurricane Idalia on Tuesday before it slams into the state.
The storm could bring a foot or more of rain to parts of Florida, but other parts of the state and the Carolinas won’t see the same amount. There is a chance of tornadoes in those states.
More than half of Florida’s coastline is at risk of life threatening storm surge from the rising ocean water. Governor Ron DeSantis warned that he would not be able to survive that. The latest updates are here.
The National Weather Service said that the area could experience life- threatening winds, with the possibility of structural damage to buildings and the complete destruction of mobile homes.
Idalia, the Big Bend, Hurricanes, and Preparation for Power Outage in Tallahassee: A State of Emergency Management in Florida
Forecasters expect the eye of Idalia to chart a course toward Florida’s Big Bend, the region where the peninsula meets the panhandle. According to experts, no hurricanes have tracked into the Apalachee Bay in the last 167 years.
The White House said Biden approved the emergency declaration for Florida on Monday after he talked to DeSantis about storm preparations.
In Florida, more than 50,000 customers are without power. Tallahassee is preparing for outages that could last days, expecting its strongest storm in decades.
As of Tuesday morning, Idalia was about 120 miles away from Dry Tortugas with maximum sustained winds of 85 miles per hour, according to the National Hurricane Center. There were warnings in effect for the west coast of Florida.
If you’re in one of the areas that’s in the path of the major storm surge, you still have time this morning to make your final preparations, according to the governor.
In the event of an emergency in Florida, the emergency management chief encouraged people who are forced to evacuate to bring comfort items for their children such as toys and snacks, and not to leave pets behind.
The aftermath of Idalia, the biggest hurricane so far: Flooding the beaches along the Big Bend with hurricane–like winds and seawater domes
The storm surge was predicted to be 10 to 15 feet. That is several feet higher than what was predicted last year during Hurricane Ian, which walloped and decimated Fort Myers Beach. “This could have really, really significant storm surge on those coastal areas alongside the Big Bend. Storm surge of this magnitude is not something we’ve seen on this part of Florida in any of our lifetimes,” DeSantis said.
The Big Bend is a low-lying area with quaint and old-time fishing villages and tiny beach communities.
Climate change is providing fuel for hurricanes by warming the world’s oceans. The trade winds have been slow in the tropical Atlantic and across the Caribbean. Those winds would typically churn up deeper, cooler waters. But with less of that upwelling, the waters in the Caribbean and around Florida have been heating like a pot on slow boil. “All of that has been festering for weeks and weeks,” Knabb says. “And now those waters are being used by this hurricane to fuel it.”
As Idalia chugs toward Florida, its winds are pushing a column of saltwater toward shore. The higher the water will be if the winds are strong. The hurricane’s low pressure is also creating a sort of offshore dome of water centered under the storm. The water rises because there’s less atmospheric pressure on the ocean there. Brian McNoldy, a research seismologist at the University of Miami said that the dome peaks right under the eye. “When the hurricane makes landfall, that dome of ocean water comes along with it.”
Communities along hundreds of miles of coastlineboarded up windows and emptied grocery store shelves of water. There are roughly 700 people in Cedar Key, a city that has seen a number of people flee. “My family has been here for many generations,” said the mayor, Heath Davis. “We haven’t seen a storm this bad, ever.”
