Hurricane Idalia strengthens en route to Florida, expected to land as Category 4 storm (updated)

Grand Gulf Energy

29/08/2023 10:28

(Adds Idalia expected to make landfall as Category 4 hurricane)
    By Marco Bello and Joseph Ax
       CEDAR KEY, Florida, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Hurricane Idalia
gained fury on Tuesday as it crawled toward Florida's Gulf
Coast, forcing mass evacuations in low-lying areas expected to
be swamped when the powerful storm, forecast to reach Category 4
intensity, strikes on Wednesday morning.
    Idalia was generating maximum sustained winds of 110 miles
per hour (177 kph) by late Tuesday night - at the upper end of 
Category 2 - and its force will ratchet higher before it slams
ashore, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC)
projected.     
    By that time the storm was forecast to reach "an extremely
dangerous Category 4 intensity" - with maximum sustained winds
of at least 130 mph (209 kph) - on the five-step Saffir-Simpson
wind scale, the NHC reported. 
    The hurricane was upgraded on Tuesday evening to a Category
2 after its top wind speeds surpassed 95 mph (153 kph), feeding
on the warm, open waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Any storm
designated Category 3 or higher is classified as a major
hurricane.
    Idalia's most dangerous feature, however, appeared to be the
powerful surge of wind-driven seawater it is expected to deliver
to barrier islands and other low-lying areas along the coast.
    Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is seeking the Republican
presidential nomination next year, urged residents in vulnerable
communities to heed orders to move to higher ground, warning
that the storm surge could cause life-threatening floods.
    "They're expecting some fatalities, so I don't want to be
one of them," said Rene Hoffman, 62, of Steinhatchee, Florida, a
coastal town in the area where Idalia is expected to make
landfall. She owns a food stand that she lashed to her husband's
pickup truck to keep it from washing or blowing away. 
    "This is scary, you know, to think that water could come
this high," she said as she gathered her prescription
medications and prepared to leave her home. "We've never had
water up here before."
    The NHC said Idalia's center would likely hit Florida's
coastline somewhere in the Big Bend region, where the state's
northern panhandle curves into the Gulf side of the Florida
Peninsula, roughly bounded by the inland cities of Gainesville
and Tallahassee, the state capital.
    Sparsely populated compared with the Tampa-St. Petersburg
area to the south, the Big Bend features a marshy coast,
threaded with freshwater springs and rivers, and a cluster of
small offshore islands forming Cedar Key, a historic fishing
village devastated in 1896 by a hurricane's storm surge.
    Most of Florida's 21 million residents, along with many in
Georgia and South Carolina, were under hurricane, tropical storm
and storm surge warnings and advisories. State emergency
declarations were issued in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.
    At the White House, U.S. President Biden said he and
DeSantis were "in constant contact," adding that he had assured
the governor federal disaster assistance would remain in place
for as "long as it takes, and we’ll make sure they have
everything they need.” 
    Gulf energy producers were taking precautions as well. U.S.
oil company Chevron evacuated staff from three oil production
platforms, while Kinder Morgan planned to shut a petroleum
pipeline.
    Idalia-related disruptions extended to Florida's Atlantic
coast at Cape Canaveral, where the Tuesday launch of a rocket
carrying a U.S. Space Force intelligence satellite was delayed
indefinitely due to the hurricane. 
    Idalia grew from a tropical storm into a hurricane early on
Tuesday, a day after passing west of Cuba, where it damaged
homes and flooded villages. 
        By Tuesday evening, the storm was churning about 125
miles (201 km) west of Tampa as it crept closer to shore.
  
    Idalia is in line to become the fourth major hurricane to
strike Florida over the past seven years, following Irma in
2017, Michael in 2018 and Ian, which peaked at Category 5, last
September.
    
    UP TO 15 FEET OF STORM SURGE
    In Sarasota - a city hard-hit by Ian last year - Milton
Bontrager's home was boarded and stocked with food, water and a
generator.
    "I don't panic, I prepare," said Bontrager, 40, who runs six
charter fishing boats in Venice along the Gulf Coast near Tampa.
    He stopped taking customers out days ago so he could secure
the boats. His biggest craft is tied down to a floating dock
with 16 lines and equipped with battery-powered pumps that turn
on automatically if the boat starts taking on water.    
    Florida's Gulf Coast along with southeastern Georgia and
eastern portions of North and South Carolina could face
torrential rains of 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 cm) through
Thursday, with isolated areas seeing as much as 12 inches (30
cm), the hurricane center warned.
    
   Surge warnings were posted for hundreds of miles of
shoreline, from Sarasota to the sport fishing haven of Indian
Pass at the western end of Apalachicola Bay. In some areas, the
surge of water could rise 10 to 15 feet (3.0 to 4.6 m), the NHC
said.
    "The No. 1 killer in all of these storms is water," Deanne
Criswell, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's
administrator, said on CNN. 
    More than 40 school districts in Florida canceled classes,
DeSantis said. Tampa International Airport closed to commercial
operations with plans to reopen on Thursday. 
    About 5,500 National Guard members were mobilized, while
30,000 to 40,000 electricity workers were placed on standby. The
state has set aside 1.1 million gallons of gasoline to address
any interruptions to fuel supplies, DeSantis said.
  
  
    BRUSH WITH CUBA
    As Floridians braced for Idalia's arrival, Cubans were
grappling with the aftermath of the storm, which lingered for
hours on Monday near the western end of the Caribbean island
nation, toppling trees and flooding coastal villages.
    In Pinar del Rio, an area known for producing the tobacco
used to make some of the world's finest cigars, 60% of the
province was without power. Tens of thousands of people were
evacuated. 

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Hurricane Idalia’s path: What to expect when it hits Florida   
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/what-expect-when-hurricane-idalia-hits-florida-wednesday-2023-08-29/
GRAPHIC-Path of Storm Idalia    cpurl://apps.cp./Apps/iMap?zoom=5&lat=28.459033019728068&long=-83.80371093750001&HURCUR_visibleKmlItems=153_155_157_159_162_162_169_169_171_171_178_178_183_209_214_216_220_220_225_247&layer=HURCUR
FACTBOX-Most powerful hurricanes in US history     urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N3A91K2
FACTBOX-Stocks to watch as Idalia makes landfall in Florida   
[ urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N3A91Q1
Idalia aiming for Gulf Coast of Florida     https://tmsnrt.rs/45u5kRG
Peak storm surge predictions for Hurricane Idalia Peak storm
surge predictions for Hurricane Idalia    https://tmsnrt.rs/3sqvJkK
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
 (Reporting by Marco Bello in Cedar Key, Florida, Maria
Alejandra Cardona in Steinhatchee, Florida,   Rich McKay in
Atlanta, Nelson Acosta in Havana, Dave Sherwood in Guanimar,
Cuba, Joey Roulette in Tampa Bay, Florida, Brad Brooks in
Longmont, Colorado, Brendan O'Brien in Chicago and Nandita Bose
in Washington; Writing by Joseph Ax and Steve Gorman; Editing by
Lincoln Feast, Marguerita Choy and Cynthia Osterman)
 ((mailto:brendan.obrien@thomsonreuters.com;))