Idalia hits Florida at Cat-3 and drives Northeast; right-side storm surge eyed
Hurricane Idalia made landfall near Keaton Beach Florida, having slowed slightly to Cat-3 status with windspeeds of 125mph (200 km/h) and storm surge across a major stretch of the Florida Gulf coast.
By 9:00 local time, some 40 miles inland from its landfall, sustained windspeeds had fallen to 110 mph (175 km/h) with higher gusts. Warnings, watches and forecast windspeeds and storm surge levels remained largely stable from the pre-landfall read.
Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 25 miles (35 km) from the centre, or nearly half-way to the state capital of Tallahassee, and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 175 miles (280 km) engulfing Tallahassee to the WNW while brushing up against Tampa and Orlando to the south and east.
Some 267,631 customers were already out of power in Florida as of 10:40 a.m. local time, power grid analyser PowerOutage.us said.
Extensive storm surge warnings are proving prescient. Media reports and photos of flooding preceded landfall, including from the Tampa Bay area. Local Tampa media reported mild neighbourhood flooding and a river surge pressing the 7 foot mark.
A NOAA National Ocean Service tide gauge at Cedar Key, Florida, had reported a water level of 6.8 feet above mean which the NHC called an approximation of inundation in that area, some 58 miles (92 km) on the storm’s right side from landfall. Storm surge levels are predicted as high as 12-16 feet in some locations and 4 to 6 feet in the more heavily populated Tampa Bay.
Storm surge is of particular concern along the right hand side of the storm track, including the Tampa Bay area, as the major drive of likely damage, industry experts have warned, noting greater susceptibility of the Gulf coast side of Florida. Inland wind damage towards the Florida capital of Tallahassee is also a concern. Landfall hit in a relatively low population density region of the big bend stretch of the Florida Gulf coast.
At 9:00 AM local time the system was travelling at 18 mph (30 km/h) and had begun to veer NNE from a prior course more directly north.
A north-northeastward course is expected for the morning, taking the storm's eye into southern Georgia later in the day before lining up for a run up or along the coasts of Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina late Wednesday and Thursday.
“Although Idalia will weaken further now that the centre is inland, it is likely to still be a hurricane while moving across southern Georgia, and near the coast of Georgia or southern South Carolina late today,” forecasters said.
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