2023-08-29 21:51:28
– Florida prepares for the arrival of Hurricane Idalia
Hurricane Idalia continues on its way to the west coast of Florida, where it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday. A state of emergency has been declared.
Published: 08.29.2023, 23:51
Employees barricade a restaurant in Florida before Hurricane Idalia lands on Tuesday, August 29, 2023.
Getty Images via AFP
Florida has ordered residents on its west coast to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Idalia, which strengthened on Tuesday and could become “extremely dangerous” before making landfall on Wednesday, US authorities said. “Idalia is now a Category 2 hurricane” on the Saffir-Simpson scale, which includes 5 in total, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) announced.
“Potentially deadly” coastal flooding, heavy rain and strong winds are expected, he warned. The storm also affected part of Cuba from Monday evening. From a tropical storm, Idalia became a hurricane overnight from Monday to Tuesday. The National Hurricane Center said it expects it to “rapidly intensify into an extremely dangerous major hurricane before making landfall on Wednesday.”
A “major hurricane” is a classification reserved for those that exceed category 3. They are likely to cause “devastating” and “catastrophic” destruction, according to the NHC. If you are told to evacuate, “you must do so immediately,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned at a press conference. “It’s going to be a major hurricane.”
“Prepare for the worst”
Also urging residents to comply with the instructions, the boss of the federal agency responsible for responding to natural disasters (Fema), Deanne Criswell, insisted on driving the point home. “Very few people can survive being in the way of a major coastal flood, and this storm will be deadly if we don’t get out of harm’s way and take it seriously,” she said. affirmed.
As a precaution, the states of South Carolina and Georgia have declared a state of emergency, in case the hurricane also hits their lands, further north. At the time of publication of the last NHC bulletin, Idalia was 310 kilometers southwest of Tampa, Florida with sustained winds of up to 155 km/h.
Cuba too
On the western tip of Cuba, the heavy rains generated by the passage of Idalia, then still a tropical storm, caused flooding in several localities and deprived more than 200,000 users of electricity, including 90,000 in Havana, authorities announced. “We must now work urgently” to restore electricity and communications and “harvest to distribute as much food as possible,” said President Miguel Diaz-Canel.
The rains, accompanied by gusts of wind exceeding 110 km / h, hit the tobacco production area of the province of Pinar del Rio, in particular that of Vueltabajo where the best tobacco on the island is harvested. In this province, some 60,000 homes may have been damaged. According to the media, some 8,000 people had left their homes in anticipation of the storm to take refuge in shelters or with relatives.
Pre-deployed
Idalia must advance in the Gulf of Mexico, where there is currently “a marine heat wave”, a hurricane-enhancing factor, according to the researchers. US President Joe Biden on Monday approved a declaration of a state of emergency and released federal aid.
Fema is already preparing for the consequences of the storm, in particular by pre-deploying part of its staff, according to the White House. “I spoke to the governor last night, we are in the process of providing anything he might need. We are in constant contact,” Joe Biden said Tuesday of Ron DeSantis, like him running for president in 2024.
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