Storm Idalia to intensify into major hurricane ahead of Florida landfall
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[August 29, 2023]
By Dave Sherwood , Brendan O'Brien and Rich McKay
GUANIMAR, Cuba (Reuters) -Tropical Storm Idalia lashed western Cuba and
was expected to strengthen into a major hurricane on Monday as it
crawled toward Florida's Gulf Coast, where officials ordered evacuations
and urged residents to prepare for an expected Wednesday landfall.
Idalia was churning about 80 miles (130 km) off the western tip of Cuba
as it barreled north, packing maximum sustained winds of 70 mph (112 kph),
the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory.
The storm's growing intensity and its northerly track put some 14
million Floridians under hurricane and tropical storm warnings along the
Gulf of Mexico.
Authorities warned that the chief hazard to human life posed by the
storm would be from surging walls of seawater driven inland by high
winds, inundating low-lying coastal areas.
Storm surge warnings were posted for hundreds of miles of Gulf Coast
shoreline, from the Sarasota area north through Tampa and stretching to
the sport-fishing haven of Indian Pass at the western end of
Apalachicola Bay.
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"Buckle up for this one," Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said during a
news conference on Monday afternoon, adding that he had spoken to U.S.
President Joe Biden and the director of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA), Deanne Criswell.
"Do what you got to do. You still have time today. You have time for
most of tomorrow," he said, urging Floridians to prepare for the
potentially dangerous conditions.
CUBANS EVACUATE
Cubans rushed to evacuate coastal towns, batten down homes and tie down
fishing boats as Idalia bore down near the western end of the island
nation on Monday.
Chocolate-brown floodwaters had swamped the small fishing village of
Guanimar, south of Havana, by mid-afternoon.
Decades-old buses missing floorboards and windows carried residents 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
prepared for evacuation with her five children. "We try to prepare, but
no matter what we do everything will be soaked."
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 fine Cuban cigars.
Authorities had evacuated tens of thousands of people from that province
as well as the neighboring farm province of Artemisa.
Idalia was forecast to reach hurricane strength late Monday and attain
Category 3 force - classified as a major hurricane on the five-step
Saffir-Simpson wind scale - by the time it makes landfall in Florida on
Wednesday. Hurricane center forecasts showed Idalia's center on track to
come ashore in Florida's Big Bend area, where the state's Gulf Coast
panhandle transitions into its peninsula region.
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![](../images/082923PIX/news_v10.jpg)
Tropical Storm Idalia makes its way to
Cuba and Florida's west coast in a composite image from the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) GOES-East weather
satellite August 28, 2023. NOAA/Handout REUTERS
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Shannon Hartsfield, who runs a fishing boat in Apalachicola Bay in
Franklin County on the panhandle, was heeding the warnings.
Hartsfield and many of his fellow anglers had pulled most of their
boats from the bay and moved them to high ground, he said. Other
fishermen who ran out of time and left their crab traps behind must
now wait until after the storm to assess the damage.
"It could jog a little west and come straight at us," Hartsfield
said. "Hopefully we won't catch the worst of it."
To the south, Manatee County was one of a handful of jurisdictions
to order mandatory evacuations on Monday, telling residents to seek
higher ground or head out of the storm's expected track.
By Tuesday, Florida's Gulf Coast, southeastern Georgia and eastern
portions of North and South Carolina could face torrential rains of
4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 cm) that could unleash scattered flooding.
Along with the heavy rain, winds of more than 110 mph (177 kph)
could result in life-threatening storm surge, 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 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.
Like many beachfront communities along the coast, the city of
Bradenton opened sandbag stations on Monday and urged its 55,000
residents to stay vigilant.
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"Let's be prepared - secure items that could become airborne, gas up
your car, have cash and bottled water on hand," officials said on
the social media platform X.
DeSantis declared a state of emergency for 46 Florida counties. Some
5,500 National Guard troops have been mobilized and thousands of
electricity workers readied to help restore power quickly after the
storm passes.
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 3 hurricane
threatened to bring heavy swells to Bermuda and the U.S. East Coast
throughout the week.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Chicago, Rich McKay in Atlanta and
Dave Sherwood in Guanimar, Cuba. Writing by Brendan O'Brien and
Steve Gorman. Editing by Marguerita Choy, Rosalba O'Brien and Diane
Craft)
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