Important Takeaways:
- Eyewall of monster CAT-3 Hurricane Idalia batters Florida’s Big Bend as 16ft storm surge floods homes and leaves more than 200,000 without power: Thousands flee north
- It’s the strongest storm to make landfall in the Big Bend region in 127 years, matching an unnamed hurricane in 1896.
- Idalia surged to a Category 4 storm in the early hours because of warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico, reaching speeds of up to 156mph – before dropping to 125mph shortly after 7am.
- The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) has warned of catastrophic storm surges of up to 12 to 16 feet in the worst affected areas.
- St Petersburg Police shared a video of the level of flooding which was sweeping away homes at a mobile trailer park, and confirmed they had already rescued one person by 6:50am.
- Hurricane Idalia has been branded ‘an unprecedented event’ by the National Weather Service in Tallahassee.
- Idalia could spawn tornadoes as far south as Tampa and Sarasota, east to Jacksonville and north to the Georgia coast later today.
- During a press conference on Wednesday, Governor Ron DeSantis warned ‘don’t mess with this storm’ as the power briefly went out from his headquarters.
- He added that there have been 11 tornado warnings issued, saying: ‘It’s going to be a significant, significant impact.’
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