Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Keaton Beach, Florida on August 30th at 7:45 am. As the hurricane headed through Florida’s big bend, families and students prepared for the debris and destruction. Angelina Georgiev, 2023 Prospect graduate and now University of Tampa student, tries to adjust to college while preparing for Idalia.
“Obviously, as a freshman who is moving across the country this is frightening,” Georgiev says. “I haven’t even started classes and they are already talking about a hurricane starting.”
Hurricane Idalia formed in the Gulf of Mexico and has made its way north through Tallahassee, Savannah, and the coast of South Carolina. When the hurricane made landfall, it had a wind speed of 125mph, which is classified as a category 3 hurricane. Florida is not unfamiliar with hurricanes. In fact, this year in Florida there were 14 named storms that became hurricanes and at least two of them, including Hurricane Idalia, were considered category 3 with wind speeds between 111-123 mph. Hurricane Idalia is the strongest hurricane in 125 years to hit the big bend of Florida.
The Florida state government had put many precautions in place before the hurricane made contact with Florida. The National Guard was fully activated to support civilians, provide traffic control, and route clearance from impacted areas. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is providing assistance to ensure clean drinking water, sewage disposal, and operation of hazardous waste facilities. The Florida Department of Health (DOH) constructed mobile hospitals and emergency rooms for facilities hit hard in the Big Bend. If Florida has learned anything from previous disasters, it is how to be prepared for the next one.
While Georgiev and all other undergraduates were disappointed to be leaving campus so soon after they arrived, the University of Tampa is trying to do its part to keep its students and staff safe. The University canceled classes on Tuesday and Wednesday and students were forced to evacuate. They provided shuttle buses to hurricane shelters for any students who had nowhere else to go in the hurricane. Tampa was not badly damaged but was supposed to be hit.
“It’s definitely scary,” Georgiev says. “Tampa is supposed to get hit by the hurricane and by some miracle it always moves.”
So far, there have been 2 reported deaths in Florida from traffic incidents caused by the hurricane and over 400,000 people with no power in Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina. Roads have been broken and houses destroyed but flooding has been the major problem. Several cities have reported getting anywhere from 5 to 9 ft of flooding. The damages to homes and infrastructure has caused 12-20 billion dollars.
Despite the increasing number of major storms, recent Census data reported that more people moved into Florida in 2021 than any other state proving that, in Florida, the love of sunshine is greater than the fear of storms.
