A region that hasn’t experienced a direct hit from a hurricane in modern times is cleaning up today from a major storm. Hurricane Idalia came out of the southern Gulf of Mexico this week, taking aim to the part of Florida where the peninsula meets the panhandle.
The storm’s eye made landfall in tiny Keaton Beach in Taylor County. Wind, rain and storm surge stretched out for a couple hundred miles, flooding roads, bridges and neighborhoods along the Gulf Coast.
President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit areas impacted by the storm on Saturday, as damage assessments, clean up, and recovery efforts are underway.
Idalia grew from a tropical storm to a category 4 hurricane in less than three days and brought historic high water. Is this rapid intensification, as well as record high storm surges, becoming the rule for storms and not the exception?
Guests:
- Serra Sowers, WUFT News.
- Regan McCarthy, WFSU News.
- Stephanie Colombini, WUSF News.
- Megan Borowski, multimedia meteorologist with the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network.