Hurricane Idalia was upgraded from a tropical storm status to a powerful hurricane on Tuesday morning as it barreled towards Florida’s Gulf Coast, where locals are bracing themselves for a life-threatening storm surge and dangerous high winds.
Western Cuba has already been hit by torrential rainfall and flooding from Idalia that could yet lead to mudslides, bringing further devastation to the tobacco-producing province of Pinar del Rio, which was hammered by Hurricane Ian last September.
As of Tuesday morning, Idalia is now crossing the Gulf of Mexico with maximum speeds of 70mph and is expected to turn north-northeast on Tuesday and Wednesday before moving at a faster pace, reported the US National Hurricane Center.
The centre of the storm is forecast to pass over the extreme southeastern Gulf of Mexico and then reach Florida’s west coast on Wednesday before blowing through Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.
Residents of the Sunshine State have been loading up on sandbags and many living in low-lying areas along the Gulf Coast have already packed up their cars, readied generators and evacuated their homes in preparation.
“You should be wrapping up your preparation for #TropicalStormIdalia tonight and Tues morning at the latest,” the National Weather Service in Tampa Bay warned residents on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday evening.
When Idalia finally makes landfall, its arrival preceded by hurricane-force winds, it will be the first storm to hit Florida this hurricane season.
It will likely bring fresh problems to a state that, like Cuba, is still dealing with the damage left behind by Hurricane Ian 11 months ago, which left 150 people dead and damaged 52,000 structures.
Florida governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency in 46 counties, a broad swathe that stretches across the northern half of the state from the Gulf Coast to the Atlantic.
The state has also mobilised 1,100 National Guard members, who have 2,400 high-water vehicles and 12 aircraft at their disposal for rescue and recovery efforts.
Mr DeSantis, who liaised with President Joe Biden on Idalia in Monday, warned of a “major impact”, saying during a news conference on Monday: “The property – we can rebuild someone’s home. You can’t unring the bell, though, if somebody stays in harm’s way and does battle with Mother Nature.”
He said the Florida Department of Transportation would waive tolls on highways in the Tampa area and the Big Bend starting at 4am on Tuesday morning to help ease any burden on people in the path of the storm.
Tampa International Airport and St Pete-Clearwater International Airport said they would close on Tuesday and the Sunrail commuter rail service in Orlando has been suspended.
Many school districts along the Gulf Coast said they would be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday and several colleges and universities have likewise shut their campuses, including the University of Florida in Gainesville.
A total of 21 counties in western Florida have issued evacuation notices, with mandatory orders for some people in eight of those counties.
Many of the notices were for people in low-lying and coastal areas, for those living in structures such as mobile and manufactured homes, recreational vehicles and boats, and for people who would be vulnerable in a power outage.
Pasco and Levy counties, located north of Tampa, both ordered mandatory evacuations for some residents. In the latter, officials said residents of Cedar Key must be off the island by Tuesday evening because storm surges would make bridges impassable.
Hurricane Idalia is just the latest in a summer of natural disasters to hit North America, from deadly wildfires in Hawaii and Canada to the first tropical storm to hit California in 84 years – marking the latest illustrations of the climate crisis in action.
