Hurricane Idalia intensifying as it heads for landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast

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• Geoff Bennett:

  Hurricane Idalia is gaining strength, with winds of 100 miles per hour. It's now a Category 2 system and is barreling toward Florida, where it's expected to make landfall as a Category 3 storm tomorrow.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Rain from the hurricane's outer bands is already falling in Florida.

  Idalia is expected to punish the Western coast of the state, and the Big Bend region near the Panhandle in the northwest. Forecasters are warning of a catastrophic storm surge, along with destructive winds, flooding rain, and possibly even tornadoes.

  More than 20 counties were under evacuation orders late today as the storm takes aim at Florida.

  Along the Gulf Coast of Florida, people in Tampa and elsewhere are focused on sandbags, instead of sandy beaches.

• Grace Cruz, Tampa Resident:

  In every situation now, we start preparing, putting away all my patio furniture, bringing in anything out there that's loose and can fly away, and getting the sandbags.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Hurricane Idalia is expected to make landfall in the state on Wednesday. It will be the first storm to strike Florida this hurricane season.

  The National Hurricane Center projects sustained winds of up to 120 miles per hour.

  Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), Presidential Candidate: It's been tracking into the Big Bend area pretty consistently, with a bit of little variations, but, at the same time, you have got to watch how this thing goes and where it can impact.

  So, just make sure you are heeding the warnings from your local emergency management individuals. Make sure you're doing what you need to do to keep yourself and your family safe.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Video from the International Space Station today showed the storm churning in the Gulf of Mexico as it closed in on Florida.

  The storm has already swept past Cuba, drenching Havana. Residents there waded through floodwaters, trying to get to higher ground.

• Yadira Alvarez, Cuba Resident (through interpreter):

  We have been flooded for two days. It hadn't risen much before, but, yes, there's a lot of water. It has rained quite a lot.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Back in Florida, the U.S. Coast Guard prepared helicopters to assist in rescue efforts. The state also mobilized more than 1,000 National Guard members.

  FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said Idalia could significantly raise water levels off the Florida coast.

• Deanne Criswell, FEMA Administrator:

  This storm is very strong and is expected to strengthen to a major hurricane by the time it makes landfall, due to high surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico. This means heavy winds, high winds, heavy rain, and a forecasted 12-foot storm surge in some of the areas along the Western coast.

• Amna Nawaz:

  St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch urged caution, especially in areas hard-hit by Hurricane Ian less than a year ago.

  Ken Welch, Mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida: Storms are unpredictable. Folks that have been in Florida for a long time know it. Maybe folks who are newer to the area see that track and think they're safe. And we know from Ian that is not the case.

• Amna Nawaz:

  It's a lesson learned at great cost in New Orleans, where, today, they marked 18 years since Hurricane Katrina blasted ashore, devastating parts of the city and surrounding communities and killing more than 1,800 people.

  To update us on the latest with Hurricane Idalia and how it is advancing, I'm joined by Jamie Rhome, deputy director at the National Hurricane Center.

  Jamie, welcome back.

  Let's just start with the latest. You have been tracking this storm. As we speak right now, just past 6:00 here on the East Coast, where is the storm and where is it headed?

• Jamie Rhome, National Hurricane Center:

  well, it's currently centered about 200 miles southwest of Tampa Bay, Florida.

  Maximum sustained winds have been steadily increasing throughout the day. It is now a Category 2 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, which puts the peak winds at 100 miles per hour. And looking at the satellite imagery, it is continuing to intensify as we speak.

• Amna Nawaz:

  You noted there that the FEMA director — administrator, rather, said it is intensifying and strengthening. Do you still expect it to make landfall as a Category 3 storm?

• Jamie Rhome:

  Oh, yes.

  All indications are it's continuing to strengthen. And our forecast takes it to a Category 3 over the next 12, 18 hours.

• Amna Nawaz:

  And has the path changed at all? Do you — where are you expecting it to make landfall and what should folks expect on the ground to see when that happens?

• Jamie Rhome:

  The projected path has been relatively consistent throughout the last several days leading up to the event.

  It hasn't changed, and I don't anticipate significant changes. It looks like it's going to make landfall somewhere in the Florida Big Bend area. It's hard to tell precisely where, which county, but somewhere in the Florida Big Bend area, most likely passing very closer east of Tallahassee area, so they could get some pretty big winds as well.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Jamie, part of the National Weather Service advisory said today, don't mess around with this storm.

  They put this system into historical context a little bit. But compare it, if you can, to storms in the past. We have heard a lot about Hurricane Ian, for example, which folks there are still recovering from. How does Idalia compare?

• Jamie Rhome:

  Well, hurricanes are sort of like people, and they're all a little bit different.

  So comparing storms is — can be problematic at times. But what I can tell you is, if you have never experienced the power of a major hurricane, you're probably underestimating just how strong it is. These winds — you can see on this graphic here, you think of this red area as where the hurricane-force winds could move inland.

  You can see how far those winds carry inland, including all the way into Southern Georgia.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Governor DeSantis said earlier the highway tolls are being waived. Shelters are opening.

  We know people are being encouraged to evacuate. For those who haven't been able to or who can't yet, what's your advice to them? What's your message?

• Jamie Rhome:

  Unfortunately, you're down to the last few hours.

  The conditions are going to deteriorate rapidly through the evening and overnight areas in advance of this system. We are already seeing heavy rain bands and strong winds move across the Florida Peninsula as we speak. This is no longer a sit and wait, sit and watch, or hope for a different outcome.

  It is clear, if you're in the path of this system, and most especially, most especially if you have been ordered to evacuate, you need to do that now, not tomorrow, now.

• Amna Nawaz:

  That is Jamie Rhome, deputy director at the National Hurricane Center, with the latest on Hurricane Idalia.

  Jamie, thank you so much.

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