Tropical Storm Idalia’s impact reverberated across western Cuba, and the system is anticipated to evolve into a major hurricane by Monday. This intensification trajectory has triggered precautionary measures in anticipation of an impending landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast, scheduled for Wednesday.
As it advanced northward, Idalia maintained a distance of about 80 miles (130 km) off the western edge of Cuba, generating maximum sustained winds of 70 mph (112 kph). This update comes courtesy of the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center based in Miami, as reported by Reuters.
The amplification of the storm’s strength and its trajectory directed towards the north have prompted authorities to issue hurricane and tropical storm warnings to a staggering 14 million Floridians situated along the Gulf of Mexico.
With a primary focus on safeguarding human lives, officials highlighted that the most significant threat posed by the storm is the surge of seawater propelled inland by robust winds. This surge, capable of inundating low-lying coastal regions, is projected to be the chief hazard.
Warnings pertaining to storm surges have been disseminated across a vast expanse of the Gulf Coast shoreline, stretching from the Sarasota area up north through Tampa and extending to the sport-fishing haven of Indian Pass, located at the western terminus of Apalachicola Bay.
