Hurricane Idalia intensified overnight and is now a Category 4 storm heading toward Florida’s Gulf Coast. The strongest part of the storm will be over Florida’s Big Bend, where the state’s long peninsula curves to meet its Panhandle. More than half of Florida’s western coastline is at risk of life-threatening storm surges, as rising ocean water floods towns. Tallahassee is preparing for outages that could last days, expecting its strongest storm in decades. That’s partly because of human-driven climate change, which appears to have contributed to record-breaking ocean temperatures off the Florida coast.

---

Persons: Idalia, You’re, Ron DeSantis, ”, Heath Davis, “ Organizations: Carolinas, ”, Florida National Guard, California . Locations: Florida’s Gulf, Big Bend, United States, West, Central Florida, Georgia, Florida, Tallahassee, Tampa, Naples, Fla, California, U.S