Hurricane Idiala strengthens, likely to make landfall as Category 4 storm | DW News

Hurricane Idalia strengthened over the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday as it headed toward Florida’s Gulf Coast, forcing evacuations in low-lying coastal areas, while South Carolina went into a state of emergency. 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 early Tuesday afternoon, the storm was already some 240 miles (390 kilometers) southwest of Tampa as it moved northward. Forecasters predict Idalia would make landfall later Wednesday morning as a Category 4 storm with winds of at least 130 mph (209 kph) in the lightly populated Big Bend region, where the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula. Any storm which reaches Category 3 or higher is considered a major hurricane. The National Weather Service in Tallahassee called Idalia “an unprecedented event” since no major hurricanes on record have ever passed through the bay adjoining the Big Bend. By Tuesday night, US authorities had issued mandatory evacuation orders in at least 28 of Florida’s 67 counties. “If you have not evacuated, you need to do that right now,” Florida emergency management chief Kevin Guthrie said during an evening news briefing. “You need to drop what you’re doing. You need to go to your room, pack up, pack your things and get to safety.” Idalia is in line to become the fourth major hurricane to hit Florida in the last seven years, after Irma in 2017, Michael in 2018 and Ian, which peaked at Category 5, in September 2022.