DeSantis faces Idalia as storm heads to Big Bend region in FL: ‘Be ready for impact’

At a 6 p.m. news conference Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis made clear that Hurricane Idalia “is going to have major impacts,” as the hurricane churns toward the Big Bend coast of Florida on Wednesday morning.

That’s the region in North Florida — the arch that connects the Panhandle to the peninsula. It’s also the area of Florida’s state capital, an uncommon target of hurricanes. Tallahassee is currently under a hurricane warning.

“Be ready for impact. It’s gonna happen,’ DeSantis said at the news conference. “It’s likely to cause a lot of damage,” he added.

The governor also stressed that, “we’ll be prepared for losing power, of course.”

In a 5 p.m. public advisory at the National Hurricane Center, the outlook stated that a “north-northeastward motion is expected through tonight, with Idalia’s center forecast to reach the Big Bend coast of Florida on Wednesday morning. After landfall, the center of Idalia is forecast to turn toward the northeast and east, moving near or along the coasts of Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina later Wednesday and Thursday.

The Hurricane Center also said that, “There is the potential for destructive life-threatening winds where the core of Idalia moves on shore in the Big Bend region of Florida.”