As Hurricane Idalia approached The Big Bend of Florida on Tuesday evening, Florida’s Hernando County residents in the area west of U.S. Highway 19, were under a mandatory evacuation order.
William and Patty Roberts live in Hernando Beach, a waterfront canal community of about 2,300 about an hour’s drive north of Tampa, and they were not going to take a chance.
The hurricane is set to make landfall far north from them on Wednesday morning as a Category 3 system with sustained winds of up to 120 mph in Florida’s Big Bend area.
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The National Hurricane Center forecasted catastrophic storm surge in the island city of Cedar Key, and the coastal communities of Suwannee, and Steinhatchee.
The catastrophic storm surge could reach 10 to 15 feet in some areas and there may be up to 7 feet of storm surge flooding as far south as Tampa Bay.
“You have to get to higher ground in a safe structure. You can ride the storm out there, then go back to your home,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Tuesday.
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For Roberts, the danger was just too close to home, so they decided it was a perfect time to visit their family inland and implement their hurricane prep plan.
They used sandbags and their new shutters to protect their one-story house, which has built-in storm surge drains. They protected their windows, shut off the power, and tied down everything they could before they drove away.
Roberts said he was thinking about Hurricane Ian and the inaccurate forecast.
“In a matter of minutes, the hurricane took a hard right and devastated the community,” Roberts said.
The Category 4 killed nearly 150 people last year. Its path of destruction in Florida included 52,000 structures. Some repairs were still pending.
Coastal hurricane warnings extend westward to near Cape San Blas, west of Apalachicola, with inland hurricane warnings in place as far west as Wakulla and Leon counties.
Since high winds may also cause widespread power outages inland, most supermarkets already had some empty shelves, as residents stored bottled water and non-perishable food.
There were long lines of cars stretched out of gas stations with drivers eager to fill up their tanks in anticipation of possible shortages in Florida.
Heavy rainfall is also a threat in central and north Florida.
The rainfall forecast through Thursday morning varies from 6 to 12 inches in the path of the hurricane and an inch to 3 in Florida’s east coast.
“Take it seriously, and be prepared,” said Kris Dosa, who was in Gainesville on her way south to Tampa to pick up family, including a 96-year-old woman.
Watch the 4 p.m. report
Quick facts
- Category 3 hurricane is forecast to make landfall with sustained winds of up to 120 mph on Wednesday morning in the Big Bend region of Florida.
- Storm surges could be as high as 15 feet
- The rare blue supermoon will cause higher-than-normal tides on Wednesday.
- There were evacuation notices issued in 22 counties in Florida, including the mandatory evacuations in eight counties
- Florida is waiving tolls on highways
- More than 30,000 utility workers on standby
- The National Guard activated 5,500 troops
- More than 10,000 people evacuated in Cuba
- University of Florida in Gainesville and Florida State University in Tallahassee will close
- The hurricane season runs through Nov. 30