Idalia Upgraded to Hurricane, Officials Fear Cat 4 Hit To Gulf Coast

Hurricane Idalia could hit the Gulf coast of Florida as a Category 4 storm nearly 11 months on from the devastating impact of Hurricane Ian.

Aug 29, 2023 - 18:30

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Idalia Upgraded to Hurricane, Officials Fear Cat 4 Hit To Gulf Coast

The National Hurricane Center upgraded Tropical Storm Idalia to a Hurricane early Tuesday as it barrels towards the Gulf coast of Florida carrying winds of up to 135 miles per hour.

The NHC said Idalia, which is now located off the northern tip of western Cuba, is travelling at around 14 miles per hour as it moves toward the Gulf of Mexico. It is expected to accelerate into "an extremely dangerous major hurricane" before making landfall on Wednesday and steaming towards the Carolina coastline the following day.

"On the forecast track, the center of Idalia is forecast to move over the eastern Gulf of Mexico today, reach the Gulf coast of Florida within the Hurricane Warning area on Wednesday," the NHC said.

"Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 75 mph (120 km/h) with higher gusts. Rapid intensification is likely through landfall, and Idalia is forecast to become an extremely dangerous major hurricane before landfall," the NHC said in its latest update.

Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said late Monday that he fears Idalia could accelerate into a Category 4 hurricane, the second-highest on the scale, by the time it makes landfall.

“People need to expect, even though they are well off outside of the cone, that we are going to have power outages, we are going to have trees down on power lines,” Guthrie said. “You need to be prepared for that.”

Florida Governor Ron DeStantis called for the mobilization of thousands of National Guard troops in preparation for Idalia's landing on Wednesday, and increased his 'state of emergency' order to include 46 Florida counties.

“All Floridians, you need to be executing your plans,” DeSantis said during Monday during a press conference in Tallahassee. “This is going to be a major hurricane. This is going to be a powerful hurricane.”