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Hurricane Idalia makes landfall in Florida as 'dangerous' Category 3 storm

Hurricane Idalia unleashes life-threatening storm surges and rainfall across Florida's west coast, leaving more than 230,000 customers without electricity and cancellation of hundreds of flights.

AFP

The nearby cities of Tampa and Saint Petersburg, part of a metropolitan area that is home to more than three million people, are of particular concern, authorities say. / Photo: AFP

Hurricane Idalia has slammed into northwest Florida as an "extremely dangerous" Category 3 storm, as officials warned of catastrophic impacts including storm surges of up to about five metres.

The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Idalia, which earlier raked western Cuba, was packing maximum sustained winds of approximately 215 kilometres per hour as it made landfall around 1145 GMT in Florida's marshy Big Bend area early on Wednesday.

Unlike most other coastal regions in the state, Big Bend, located along the arch of the Gulf of Mexico, does not have barrier islands.

"Extremely dangerous Category 3 Hurricane Idalia makes landfall in the Florida Big Bind," the NHC said, noting that the eye made landfall near the community of Keaton Beach.

Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis urged residents of 23 counties along Florida's Gulf coast to evacuate and head to shelters or hotels outside the danger zones.

"This thing is powerful, if you're inside, just hunker down until it gets past you," DeSantis told a press conference just before landfall.

The US presidential candidate said the hurricane was on track to be the strongest to impact the region in more than a century.

AFP

"The time to evacuate has come and gone. It is time to shelter in place," Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey says.

Storm surges

The storm is forecast to dump up to 30 centimetres of rain in parts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, according to the NHC.

"Water levels along the coast of the Florida Big Bend are rising rapidly," it warned, noting that at Cedar Key, a string of islands jutting into the Gulf, approximate inundation was at nearly six feet.

The NHC also warned of a possible disastrous storm surge of 12 to 16 feet in some coastal areas.

"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," said Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) chief Deanne Criswell.

Meteorologists are also pointing to a rare blue supermoon which could further raise tides above normal levels just as Idalia pounds the coastline.

US declares emergency as tropical Storm Idalia barrels toward Florida

Hundreds of flights cancelled

Airlines in the United States cancelled more than 850 flights and about 795 flights were also delayed due to Idalia.

Southwest Airlines cancelled more than 200 flights, while Delta Air Lines and American Airlines cancelled 148 and 98 flights, respectively, as of 8:17 am ET, according to flight-tracking website Flightaware.com.

Airports at Tampa, Clearwater and Tallahassee shut down operations and were monitoring the status of the storm.

In addition, several Florida ports were closed to vessel traffic as of Tuesday night, according to the US Coast Guard.