CEDAR KEY, Fla. โ Florida residents living in vulnerable coastal areas were ordered to pack up and leave Tuesday as Hurricane Idalia gained steam in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and threatened to unleash life-threatening storm surges and rainfall.
Idalia also pummeled Cuba with heavy rains on Monday and Tuesday, leaving the tobacco-growing province of Pinar del Rio underwater and many of its residents without power.
Adam Henderson, owner of Harbour Master Suites, prepares his business Tuesday ahead of the expected arrival of Hurricane Idalia in Cedar Key, Fla.
Idalia had strengthened to a Category 2 system on Tuesday afternoon with winds of 100 mph. The hurricane was projected to come ashore early Wednesday as a Category 3 system with sustained winds of up to 120 mph in the lightly populated Big Bend region, where the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula. The result could be a big blow to a state still dealing with lingering damage from last yearโs Hurricane Ian.
The National Weather Service in Tallahassee called Idalia โan unprecedented eventโ since no major hurricanes on record have ever passed through the bay abutting the Big Bend.
On the island of Cedar Key, more than a dozen state troopers went door to door warning residents that storm surge could rise as high as 15 feet.
Commissioner Sue Colson joined other city officials in packing up documents and electronics at City Hall. She had a message for the almost 900 residents who were under mandatory orders to evacuate the island near the coast of the Big Bend region.
โOne word: Leave,โ Colson said. โItโs not something to discuss.โ
Not everyone heeded the warning. Andy Bair, owner of the Island Hotel, said he intended to โbabysitโ his bed-and-breakfast, which predates the Civil War. The building has not flooded in the almost 20 years he has owned it, not even when Hurricane Hermine flooded the city in 2016.
โBeing a caretaker of the oldest building in Cedar Key, I just feel kind of like I need to be here,โ Bair said. โWeโve proven time and again that weโre not going to wash away. We may be a little uncomfortable for a couple of days, but weโll be OK eventually.โ
Hurricane Idalia, center, approaches Florida's Gulf Coast Aug. 29, 2023, as Hurricane Franklin, right, moves along the East coast of the United States, southwest of Bermuda.
Tolls were waived on highways out of the danger area, shelters were open and hotels prepared to take in evacuees. More than 30,000 utility workers gathered to make repairs as quickly as possible in the hurricaneโs wake. About 5,500 National Guard troops were activated.
In Tarpon Springs, a coastal community northwest of Tampa, 60 patients were evacuated from a hospital out of concern that the system could bring a 7-foot storm surge.
โYou do not have to leave the state. You donโt have to drive hundreds of miles,โ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday morning at the stateโs emergency operations center. โYou have to get to higher ground in a safe structure. You can ride the storm out there, then go back to your home.โ
A young girl plays in the surf Tuesday on Clearwater Beach in Clearwater, Fla.
Idaliaโs initial squalls were being felt in the Florida Keys and the southwestern coast of Florida on Tuesday afternoon, including at Clearwater Beach. Workers at beachside bars and T-shirt shops boarded up windows, children skim-surfed the waves and hundreds of people watched the increasingly choppy waters from the safety of the sand.
After landing in the Big Bend region, Idalia is forecast to cross the Florida peninsula and then drench southern Georgia and the Carolinas on Thursday.
Both Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced states of emergency, freeing up state resources and personnel, including hundreds of National Guard troops.
โWeโll be prepared to the best of our abilities,โ said Russell Guess, who was topping off the gas tank on his truck in Valdosta, Georgia. His co-workers at Cunningham Tree Service were doing the same. โThere will be trees on peopleโs house, trees across power lines.โ
Commuters cycle through a street flooded by rain brought by Hurricane Idalia Tuesday in Havana, Cuba.
Meanwhile, Idalia thrashed Cuba with heavy rain, especially in the westernmost part of the island, where the tobacco-producing province of Pinar del Rio is still recovering from Ian. More than 10,000 people evacuated to shelters or stayed with friends and relatives as up to 4 inches of rain fell. More than half of the province was without electricity.
Idalia will be the first storm to hit Florida this hurricane season, but itโs only the latest in a summer of natural disasters, including wildfires in Hawaii, Canada and Greece; the first tropical storm to hit California in 84 years, and devastating flooding in Vermont.
Men work to reinforce a law firm's office Tuesday as businesses and residents prepared for potential flooding ahead of the expected arrival of Hurricane Idalia in Cedar Key, Fla.
With a large stretch of Floridaโs western coast at risk for storm surges and floods, evacuation notices were issued in 22 counties, with mandatory orders for some people in eight of those counties.
Many of the notices were for low-lying and coastal areas and for people living in mobile and manufactured homes, recreational vehicles or boats, and for people who would be vulnerable in a power outage.
Many school districts along the Gulf Coast were to be closed through at least Wednesday. Several colleges and universities also closed, including the University of Florida in Gainesville. Florida State University in Tallahassee said its campus would be closed through Friday.
Two of the regionโs largest airports stopped commercial operations, and MacDill Air Force Base on Tampa Bay sent several aircraft to safer locations.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently said the 2023 hurricane season would be far busier than initially forecast, partly because of extremely warm ocean temperatures. The season runs through Nov. 30, with August and September typically the peak.
