Flood alerts, mass evacuations as Florida gears for 'extremely dangerous' Hurricane Idalia

A rapidly intensifying Hurricane Idalia crawled towards Florida's west coast on Wednesday (August 30), leading to flood alerts and mass evacuation orders as authorities issued a warning of the storm strengthening to "extremely dangerous" levels before landfall.

The US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) stated that Hurricane Idalia, which is a Category 2storm with winds travelling at a speed of 105 mph, was moving towards the southwest shore of Florida, and leading to flooding in Havana and tropical storm conditions to western Cuba.

The Gulf of Mexico's warm waters are likely to turbocharge Idalia into an "extremely dangerous major hurricane before landfall on Wednesday," said the NHC, while warning of "storm surge inundation of 10 to 15 feet (3-5 meters)" in coastal areas.

NHC further stated that parts of the state’s Gulf Coast will be hit by the “life-threatening” storm.

“There is great potential for death and catastrophic devastation,” warned the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office, adding, "Storm surge on the coastal regions are projected as non-survivable.”

"Very few people can survive being in the path of a major storm surge, and this storm will be deadly if we don’t get out of harm's way and take it seriously," stated Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Deanne Criswell.

ALSO READ |Storm Idalia lashes western Cuba as it intensifies into major hurricane

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis appeals 'leave now'

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that the people present in the evacuation areas along the Gulf Coast must leave "now."

“I want to tell everybody in Florida – listen to your local officials. If they asked you to evacuate, please do so, and it doesn’t mean you have to go hundreds of miles. It could just be 10 or 20 miles inland to get out of that main area,” he said in a press conference, appealing to the coastal residents still present in the 23 counties where evacuation orders have been issued to go to hotels or seek shelters in places which are out of the danger zones.

Idalia is likely to make landfall towards the north of the coast, in the Big Bend area, which is big marshy land unlike Florida's other coastal areas and does not have barrier islands.

"We've not really had a hurricane strike this area for a long, long time," DeSantis said while speaking to reporters. "You are going to see a lot of debris -- there's a lot of trees along that track," the governor added, after suspending his presidential campaign to manage the crisis.

WATCH |Storm Idalia to intensify into major hurricane ahead of Florida landfall

In its latest advisory, the NHC said that the forecasts were increasingly confident that Hurricane Idalia is likely to "reach the coast of Florida adjacent to Apalachee Bay Wednesday morning."

On Monday, DeSantis spoke with US President Joe Biden after which the latter approved an emergency declaration for the state, hence unblocking resources and federal funds. Meanwhile, staff has been deployed by the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Ahead of the arrival of Idalia, Tampa International Airport has been closed while flights have been disrupted along the US East Coast because of another hurricane Franklin which is churning in the Atlantic.

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