May 17, 2024
SUWANEE, Ga. — Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief has been placed on standby in anticipation of Tropical Storm Idalia, which is expected to become a major hurricane by the time it reaches Florida’s Gulf coast on Tuesday.
“Forecasts are not very pretty this morning,” Disaster Relief Director Dwain Carter told his volunteers Monday. “Predictions are not what we would like. Storm Track takes this as a Category 3 at landfall and a Category 1 hurricane from the south center of Georgia all the way up our coastline.”
Carter said storm recovery teams are on standby, as are mobile kitchen crews, heavy equipment operators, chainsaw crews, chaplains, family care teams, mobile laundromats and shower units. Deployments are possible beginning as early as Wednesday.
“It is time to be very proactive,” he said. “I would rather pull the trigger and be ready than to sit back and wait.”
The National Hurricane Center warned Monday of an increasing risk of life-threatening storm surge and dangerous hurricane-force winds in Florida as soon as late Tuesday.
The storm was about 90 miles off the western tip of Cuba on Monday morning. Maximum sustained winds were clocked at 65 mph.
Forecasters said they expected Idalia to become a hurricane Monday and a dangerous major hurricane by early Wednesday over the northeastern Gulf of Mexico.
Idalia was forecast to pass over the extreme southeastern Gulf of Mexico by early Tuesday, and reach Florida's western coast on Wednesday.
Predictions were that Florida's west coast could see storm surges up to 11 feet, raising fears of widespread lowland flooding.
