Tropical Storm Idalia is slated to strengthen into at least a Category 3 hurricane before slamming into Florida’s Gulf Coast on the morning of Aug. 30, according to the latest forecast model released by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) on Aug. 28.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Aug. 28 expanded a state of emergency to 13 additional Florida counties. The governor had already declared an emergency in 33 counties ahead of the storm’s expected landfall this week.
“Pretty much anybody on the west coast of Florida, you could see major, major impacts,” Mr. DeSantis said on Aug. 28.
It’s likely that hurricane warnings will be issued for Florida in the coming hours. The NHC said on Aug. 28 that Idalia is forecast to “become a hurricane when it nears western Cuba” later that day, adding that “life-threatening” conditions are becoming “increasingly likely” for portions of the state.
Forecasters added that the updated forecast is “quite close” to the previous one, but it stressed that “only a small deviation in the track could cause a big change in Idalia’s landfall location in Florida due to the paralleling track to the west coast of the state.”
As the storm strengthened and moved toward the United States on Aug. 27, Mr. DeSantis, a Republican 2024 presidential candidate, issued a warning to residents of his state during a news conference. The governor said that the storm may wobble and change direction, and told all Gulf Coast residents to stay alert.
“I would just caution people to remain vigilant,” he said. “I would just say to anybody on the Gulf Coast, certainly from Tampa all the way up to places like Bay County, you should absolutely be very vigilant right now.”
The governor said that residents “should be following the track of the storm.”
“What I would say to the municipalities and other electric outfits is please be willing to accept this mutual aid, so we can get the power back on as quickly as possible,” Mr. DeSantis said. After Hurricane Ian, which hit Florida in September 2022, the locations that accepted mutual aid earlier got their power back more quickly than other places did, he said.
“So, please, resources are going to be there. Let’s all work together,” he said.
Large parts of the western coast of Florida are at risk of seawater surging onto land and flooding communities when a tropical storm or hurricane approaches. That part of Florida is very vulnerable to storm surges, Jamie Rhome, deputy director of the National Hurricane Center, said on Aug. 27.
“So it will not take a strong system or a direct hit to produce significant storm surge,” he said. “So if you’re anywhere along the Florida Peninsula, western Florida Peninsula, so let’s say from about Fort Myers northward to the Panhandle, you’ve really got to be paying attention.”
Meanwhile, Mexico’s National Meteorological Service on Aug. 27 warned of intense torrential rains showering the Yucatan Peninsula, with winds as high as 55 miles per hour.
It said the storm could cause anything from powerful waves to flooding in southern Mexico, mainly in coastal cities in the Yucatán and Quintana Roo states, and warned citizens to stay alert.
Florida emergency officials on Aug. 27 urged residents to keep their vehicle gas tanks at least half-full in case they need to evacuate. “This will ensure you can evacuate tens of miles inland to a safe location should the need arise,” the Florida Division of Emergency Management stated on social media.
Florida has mobilized 1,100 National Guard members and personnel “have at their disposal 2,400 high-water vehicles, as well as 12 aircraft that can be used for rescue and recovery efforts,” Mr. DeSantis said.
“This thing hasn’t even gotten to Cuba yet, and the water in the Gulf is very, very warm, and so that will provide some fuel for this thing to pick up some more speed,” he said.
Issuing another warning, the governor said that people should expect power outages. Locals need to “prepare for that,” namely if the storm hits the area around Tallahassee on the Florida Panhandle, he said.
“There’s a lot trees that are going to get knocked down, the power lines are going to get knocked down—that is just going to happen, so just be prepared for that and be able to do what you need to do,” he said.
So far during this Atlantic hurricane season, which officially ends in November, the U.S. East Coast has been spared from tropical storms and hurricanes. But the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently said the 2023 hurricane season would be far busier than initially forecast, partly because of warm ocean temperatures. August and September are usually the peak of the season.
