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CBS News senior weather and climate producer David Parkinson added that a massive storm surge is expected to accompany Idalia’s arrival on land, and that’s the “primary threat” with this storm. There are high chances for people to get caught off guard farther south, the more the storm is skirting by.
The storm surge could go as far as US-19 inland, so there are plenty of areas covered by that, even if the coast isn’t populated like Naples. No one who lives in these areas has ever seen flooding this bad, at least not if it hits its full potential.
Where did Hurricane Idalia hit?
Idalia made landfall on Wednesday morning in the Big Bend region, which is exactly where the Florida peninsula meets the panhandle. A serious storm surge along the coast was forecast to reach 16 feet, worsening through the day as the tide rose.
Storm surge is a rise in water levels that is mainly caused by hurricane-force winds that push the water toward shore and over areas of land that are generally dry, at least according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This well-known phenomenon is seen as the greatest threat to life during an imminent hurricane.
In Crystal River, located north of Tampa, city manager Doug Baber repeatedly warned about the threat of storm surge.
Expectations
Another reason why Hurricane Idalia is unprecedented is due to the fact that a major hurricane has never entered Apalachee Bay so far, especially since it is located just south of Tallahassee, where the Florida peninsula meets the mainland U.S. Hurricane Idalia might prove to be an unprecedented event for many other locations in the Florida Big Bend.
“Now, looking back through recorded history, no major hurricanes ever moved through the Apalachee Bay, and when you try to compare this storm to others, stop, because as far as we can tell, no one has seen this. That was the message written on the front page of the NWS Tallahassee website.
What does a hurricane warning mean?
A hurricane warning basically means that serious hurricane conditions are expected within certain boundaries of the warning area. Also, a hurricane watch means those conditions might occur. Forecasters generally ask people located in specific areas to prepare for the onset of conditions within the next 12 to 24 hours.
People living in those areas under storm surge watches should be prepared for the possibility of life-threatening inundation caused by rising water moving inland from the coastline.
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