CEDAR KEY, FL (AP) — Idalia strengthened into a hurricane Tuesday and barreled toward Florida’s Gulf Coast as authorities warned residents of vulnerable areas to pack up and leave to escape the threat of high winds and devastating flooding.
Idalia is churning in the Gulf of Mexico as a Category 1 storm, but it’s projected to come ashore early Wednesday as a Category 3 system with sustained winds of up to 120 mph in the Big Bend region, where the Florida Panhandle bends into the peninsula.
The National Weather Service in Tallahassee called Idalia “an unprecedented event” since no major hurricanes on record have ever passed through the bay abutting the Big Bend region.
With a large stretch of Florida’s western coast at risk for storm surges and floods, evacuation notices were issued in more than 20 counties with mandatory orders for some people in eight of those counties. Many of the notices were for low-lying and coastal areas and for people living in mobile and manufactured homes, recreational vehicles or boats, and for people who would be vulnerable in a power outage.
Gov. Ron DeSantis urgec residents to comply with mandatory evacuation orders. “The storm surge is not something – you’re not going to win that battle if you decide to stay behind for that,” he said during an emergency management briefing in Lake City Tuesday afternoon.
On the island of Cedar Key, Commissioner Sue Colson joined other city officials in packing up documents and electronics at City Hall. She had a message for the almost 900 residents who were under mandatory orders to evacuate the island near the coast of the Big Bend region. More than a dozen state troopers went door-to-door warning residents that storm surge could rise as high as 15 feet.
“One word — leave,” Colson said. “It’s not something to discuss.”
Not everyone was heeding the warning. Andy Bair, owner of the Island Hotel, said he intended to “babysit” his bed-and-breakfast, which predates the Civil War. The building has not flooded in the almost 20 years he has owned it, not even when Hurricane Hermine flooded the city in 2016. “Being the caretaker of the oldest building in Cedar Key, I just feel kind of like I need to be here,” Bair said. “We’ve proven time and again that we’re not going to wash away. We may be a little uncomfortable for a couple of days, but we’ll be okay eventually.”
At 11 a.m. Tuesday, Idalia was about 275 miles south-southwest of Tampa, with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. It was moving north at 14 mph.
Forecasters say the presence of a rare blue supermoon could exacerbate flooding from the storm causing higher-than-normal tides. The moon will be closest to the Earth on Wednesday night, Aug. 30, the same day Idalia is expected to make landfall.
After landing in the Big Bend region, Idalia is forecast to cross the Florida peninsula and then drench southern Georgia and the Carolinas on Thursday.