Hurricane Idalia strengthened to a dangerous Category 4 storm as it steamed toward Florida’s Big Bend region and threatens to unleash life-threatening storm surges and rainfall.
Idalia was projected to come ashore later Wednesday morning with wind of at least 209 kilometres per hour in the lightly populated Big Bend region, where the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula. The National Weather Service in the state capital Tallahassee called Idalia “an unprecedented event” since no major hurricanes on record have ever passed through the bay abutting the Big Bend.
Idalia was about 96.5 kilometres west of Cedar Key and 145 kilometres south
