Hurricane Idalia brought catastrophic storm surge, flooding, and damaging winds to Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas. Get the facts and learn how you can help people in the storm’s path through community-led relief efforts.
After making landfall in Florida as a powerful Category 3 storm with 125 mph winds, Idalia brought record-breaking storm surges to locations in Tampa Bay through the state’s Big Bend area. At least three storm-related deaths have been reported.
Hurricane Idalia pummeled Cuba on Monday and Tuesday with heavy rain, leaving Pinar del Rio underwater and more than 60% of residents in the dark. By Tuesday morning, Idalia had already flooded an estimated 90% of Fort Myers island.
After landing in the Big Bend region, Idalia drenched the Florida Peninsula, southern Georgia, and the Carolinas on Thursday.
Source: CNN + The Associated Press + National Hurricane Center + NBC News
Support community-led recovery with a donation to GlobalGiving’s Hurricane Idalia Relief Fund.
Idalia may be the first major hurricane in 172 years to track into the remote region of Apalachee Bay in Florida’s Big Bend. That area, where the peninsula merges with the Panhandle, is one of the state’s last natural places. Its small towns are extremely susceptible to storm surges.
Fears of Florida’s strict immigration law kept many residents in Volusia County from evacuating to shelters, instead trying to hunker down in a safe place. Some residents, including 100 people in Cedar Key, refused to leave their homes. The 8-foot surge recorded there produced the highest water level on record. Nearby in Perry, one of the hardest hit towns, many of the 7,000 residents did not evacuate either and started to sort through the debris after the storm on Wednesday.
Source: USA Today + NBC News + The Associated Press + National Hurricane Center + The Washington Post
The storm’s impact extended beyond the forecast cone, affecting the areas where people evacuate. Idalia ripped through a 700-mile path from the Gulf Coast to the Outer Banks, leaving downed trees, a quarter-million power outages, and damaged roadways.
Even as the hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm as it moved east, beyond North Carolina, high winds and heavy rain caused flash flooding across the easter coastal region of the state.
A tornado watch was in effect for 12 million people in central and northern Florida and southeast Georgia on Wednesday. A small tornado briefly touched down in Charleston, South Carolina. Two possible tornadoes touched down in North Carolina on Thursday.
Source: CNN + NBC News + USA Today + CBS News + Reuters + The New York Times
Support community-led recovery with a donation to GlobalGiving’s Hurricane Idalia Relief Fund.
In the Gulf of Mexico, some of the warmest waters on the planet fed into Hurricane Idalia’s intensity. Water temperatures around 90 degrees Fahrenheit supercharged the storm. In some areas around Florida this summer, water temperatures warmed to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and overall Gulf temperatures have reached all-time highs. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said the 2023 hurricane season would be far busier than initially forecast, partly because of extremely warm ocean temperatures.
Scientists have been warning about the record hot surface temperatures and deep water temperatures of the ocean—especially in the Atlantic near Florida—all summer. The warm water is due to human-caused climate change, El Niño, and other weather events. Storms that near the coastlines around the world are rapidly intensifying three times more now than they did 40 years ago at three times the average per year.
Source: CNN + The Associated Press + Nature Communications
Support community-led recovery with a donation to GlobalGiving’s Hurricane Idalia Relief Fund.
GlobalGiving’s Disaster Response Team is working with responding partners to meet the immediate needs of hurricane survivors and first responders. GlobalGiving partners are already providing food, water, and shelter. Once urgent needs are met, the GlobalGiving Hurricane Idalia Relief Fund will transition to support community-led, long-term recovery efforts as needed.
Source: GlobalGiving Hurricane Idalia Relief Fund
Why? Survivors’ needs vary greatly throughout the life cycle of recovery. Some will require financial support, medical care, and psychological assistance years down the road. You can learn more about the importance of cash donations in this infographic.
Source: GlobalGiving + USAID Center for International Disaster Information
Note: This article was originally published at 12:00 p.m. on Aug. 30, 2023 and last updated at 3:46 p.m. on Aug. 31, 2023.
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