Idalia gains hurricane force, expected to strengthen before Florida
landfall
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[August 29, 2023]
By Rich McKay, Dave Sherwood and Brendan O'Brien
(Reuters) -Tropical Storm Idalia swirled into a hurricane on Tuesday
after skirting past Cuba as it closed in on Florida's Gulf Coast, where
officials ordered evacuations and urged residents to brace for a
possible major Category 3 tempest making landfall on Wednesday.
Idalia was expected to attain major-hurricane status - with sustained
winds topping at least 111 miles per hour (179 kph) - on Wednesday
morning before slamming ashore later in the day, according to the
Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC).
The NHC's latest track projections showed Idalia's center likely to
cross Florida's coastline somewhere in the Big Bend region, where the
state's northern panhandle curves around into the Gulf side of the
Florida Peninsula.
The hurricane was gathering force and the uncertainty of its path as it
spun northward over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico put some 14
million Florida residents under hurricane and tropical storm warnings.
Authorities said Idalia's chief threat to human life stemmed from
surging walls of seawater that would be driven inland by high winds,
inundating low-lying coastal areas.
Storm surge warnings were posted for hundreds of miles of shoreline,
from the Sarasota area in the north through Tampa and stretching to the
sport fishing haven of Indian Pass at the western end of Apalachicola
Bay.
"Buckle up for this one," Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said at a news
briefing on Monday.
Idalia is expected to attain Category 3 force - classified as a major
hurricane - on the five-step Saffir-Simpson wind scale by the time it
makes Florida landfall on Wednesday, the NHC said.
It would mark the fourth major hurricane to strike Florida over the past
seven years, following Irma in 2017, Michael in 2018 and Ian, which
peaked at Category 5, last September.
The NHC said Idalia was churning about 85 miles (135 km) off the western
tip of Cuba as it crept northward, packing maximum sustained winds of 75
mph (120 kph).
BRUSH WITH CUBA
Cubans rushed to evacuate coastal towns, batten down homes and secure
fishing boats as Idalia lingered for hours on Monday near the western
end of the Caribbean island nation.
By mid-afternoon, brown floodwaters had swamped the small fishing
village of Guan, one hour's drive south of Havana.
Decades-old buses missing floorboards and windows carried women and
children to higher ground as winds howled, rattling tin roofs and
slamming fishing boats tucked in the mangroves.
"We've had two days of rain already," said Yadira Alvarez, 34, as she
readied for evacuation with her five children. "We try to prepare, but
no matter what we do everything will be soaked."
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People walk on a flooded street as Storm
Idalia makes landfall in Cuba, Guanimar, Cuba, August 28, 2023.
REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini
Stormwater had already swelled to near knee-height inside her home,
she said.
Farther to the west, more intense winds closer to the storm center
pounded the tobacco-rich province of Pinar del Rio, home to the raw
material for some of the world's finest Cuban cigars.
Authorities had evacuated tens of thousands of people from that
province as well as neighboring Artemisa, while squalls of heavy
rain doused the Cuban capital of Havana.
MOVING TO HIGHER GROUND
The evacuation of barrier islands and other low-lying areas of
Florida's Gulf Coast began on Monday.
Shannon Hartsfield, who runs a fishing boat in Apalachicola Bay
along the state's panhandle, heeded the warnings, even though he
lives west of where landfall was expected.
Hartsfield and many fellow anglers had pulled most of their boats
from the bay and moved them to higher ground, he said. Others who
ran out of time and left their crab traps behind must now wait to
assess their losses after the storm.
From Tuesday through Thursday, Florida's Gulf Coast along with
southeastern Georgia and eastern portions of North and South
Carolina would face torrential rains of 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 cm)
that could unleash scattered flooding, in addition to tidal
inundation from storm surges, the hurricane center warned.
School districts across the region canceled classes starting on
Monday afternoon. Tampa International Airport planned to suspend
commercial operations beginning at midday Tuesday.
DeSantis declared a state of emergency for 46 Florida counties. Some
5,500 National Guard troops were mobilized and thousands of
electricity workers readied to help restore power quickly after the
hurricane passes.
Far to the east of Idalia, Hurricane Franklin, the first major
hurricane of the season, meandered in the Atlantic, and was forecast
to turn to the northeast over the next two days. The Category 4
storm threatened to bring heavy swells to Bermuda and the U.S. East
Coast throughout the week.
(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta, Dave Sherwood in Guanimar, Cuba
and Brendan O'Brien in Chicago; Writing and additional reporting by
Steve Gorman in Los Angeles and Swati Verma and Deep Vakil in
Bengaluru; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Bernadette Baum)
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