By The Associated Press and DANIEL KOZIN Associated Press
Florida residents are evacuating from homes in low-lying areas along the Gulf Coast as forecasters predict that Idalia will hit the state as a major hurricane.
First responders from South Florida have been dispatched in the northern part of the state to help with storm response as Hurricane Idalia hammers Florida's Big Bend region.
In the hours before Hurricane Idalia is expected to make landfall in Florida's Big Bend as a major Category 3 storm, the state is ramping up its efforts to protect residents.
For those evacuating from Hurricane Idalia, U-Haul is giving you a place to put your stuff. The company is offering 30 days of free self-storage or container use.
Idalia strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane on Tuesday morning and is expected to rapidly intensify into a dangerous major hurricane before making landfall on Florida's west coast on Wednesday.
An extremely dangerous and powerful Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region at 7:45 a.m. Wednesday as a Category 3 storm packing maximum sustained winds of 125 miles per hour.
In the tropics, Tropical Storm Franklin is already producing rain bands that are sweeping across the central Caribbean from Puerto Rico to the Dominican Republic and Haiti.