Florida braces for arrival of Idalia

Businesses and residents along Florida’s Gulf Coast are under hurricane warning conditions today as Hurricane Idalia spins toward an overnight arrival tonight in the Tampa Bay region and threatens other parts of the Southeast in coming days.

Idalia is expected to arrive as a major, Category 3 hurricane with winds of 111 mph or greater, with the potential to reach Category 4 intensity, which would deliver maximum sustained winds of 130-156 mph. 

That’s because unusually warm water temperatures in the gulf will allow Idalia to rapidly strengthen as it moves northward. Current tracks call for the storm to strike land a similar distance from Tampa as Hurricane Ian did last year, but this time it will swerve to the north, delivering the potential of “a destructive storm surge of 6-10 feet in the hardest hit areas, flooding rain, damaging winds, and even localized tornadoes,” according to a forecast from AccuWeather.

The impacts of Hurricane Ian in 2022 forced logistics operations across Florida and the Southeast to operate under closed or restricted conditions for days as they waited for flood waters to recede and electricity to come back. Those affected included regional air cargo, rail intermodal, and delivery operations conducted by XPO Logistics, the U.S. Postal Service, UPS Inc., and FedEx Corp., among others.

Now, as Idalia rumbles toward sensitive logistics hubs, the Port of Jacksonville on Tuesday closed its inbound trucking lanes at 3 p.m. and directed all trucks to depart the facility by 5 p.m. JAXPORT leaders said the administrative offices will be closed on Wednesday, and anticipate reopening on Thursday, pending storm impacts and once federal reopening safety protocols are completed.

At the Port of Savannah, the Georgia Ports Authority said that vessel activity will end Tuesday tonight, but the facility’s truck gates and rail operations will be open and operating on Wednesday, based on a National Weather Service forecast of sub-tropical winds at that time.

Recovery planning is already underway at the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN), which marshals humanitarian donations and responses to disasters. The nonprofit group on Tuesday posted tips for preparing for Hurricane Idalia, pleading with people in the area not to ignore safety warnings. ALAN is also sharing information about storm-related road closures and facility closures at its online Supply Chain Intelligence Center and is actively fielding and fulfilling Hurricane Idalia relief requests at its Disaster Micro-Site.

After crunching through Florida, the storm is expected to continue rolling northeast. Despite losing some wind intensity, Idalia is expected to track closely along the Southeast coast on Wednesday into Thursday, bringing the potential for additional storm surge flooding of up to 6 feet and higher in localized areas from portions of northeastern Florida through the Outer Banks, including parts of the metropolitan areas of Charleston, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia, and Jacksonville, Florida.

Those rising waters could be dangerous, with AccuWeather warning that even a couple of feet of storm surge can lead to widespread coastal flooding in the most flood-prone coastal areas, and storm surge of a few to several feet or more can be life-threatening.