Hurricane Idalia made landfall along the Big Bend area of Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 3 storm, with winds of 125 miles per hour. It’s likely to be the most powerful hurricane to affect Florida’s capital Tallahassee in decades. More than 100,000 customers had lost power when Idalia hit Florida’s coast, and 30 of the state’s 67 counties were issued at least partial evacuation orders as of early this morning, as officials warned residents of catastrophic storm surges of up to 12 to 16 feet.

Deanne Criswell: “Very few people can survive being in the path of a major storm surge. And this storm will be deadly if we don’t get out of harm’s way and take it seriously.”