Hurricane Idalia hit Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday, flooding several parts of the US state. This is a sign that this year will have a long storm season with more strong storms than expected, which is likely to last until November.
On Wednesday, a category 3 storm hit Florida, posing threats to life and property and making it more likely that it will rain in an area that has never been hit so hard before.
On a scale with five categories, a Category 5 hurricane is the biggest. The National Hurricane Center says that a Category 4 storm will cause “catastrophic damage.” A Category 3 storm is the first one on the scale that is thought to be a major hurricane.
Last year, almost 150 people died because of Hurricane Ian. That Category 5 storm hurt 52,000 buildings, and nearly 20,000 of them were completely destroyed or badly damaged.
A recent update by The National Hurricane Center from their official twitter handle given below-
Here’s what you need to know about Hurricane Idalia
AP said that more than 230,000 people were without power because strong winds broke trees and knocked down power lines, and fast-moving water filled the streets.
Idalia hit land in the Big Bend, a sparsely populated area where the Florida Panhandle turns into the peninsula. It hit land near Keaton Beach at 7:45 a.m. as a high-end Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of about 125 mph (205 kph).
-The power went out in Tallahassee, Florida’s capital city, long before the storm’s center got there.
Mayor John Dailey of Tallahassee told everyone to stay inside because it was too late to risk going outside. As Idalia got stronger in the warm seas of the Gulf of Mexico, people in Florida who lived near the coast and were at risk were told to pack up and leave.
-Tuesday, when asked about the storm, President Joe Biden said that he had talked to DeSantis and given him “everything he could possibly need.”
-As Hurricane Idalia hit Florida’s Gulf Coast, more than 850 US planes were canceled.
-The news says that almost 4,500 people are getting shelter in Red Cross shelters.
-Both Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster declared states of emergency. This freed up state resources and people, including hundreds of National Guard troops.
-In some places, storm surge could reach as high as 16 feet (4.9 meters). The AP story said that some counties put in place curfews to keep people off the roads.
-The National Weather Service in Tallahassee called Idalia “an unprecedented event” because no major storms have ever been recorded going through the bay next to the Big Bend. The state was still dealing with damage from Hurricane Ian last year, so they feared the worst.
Stay tuned to our website Usacharged.com for more updates.
