Hurricane Idalia updates: Biden promises to ‘take care of Florida’ on visit after DeSantis snub
President Biden assesses scale of impacts from Hurricane Idalia from the sky before conducting a walking tour of communities
Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet
Get our free Climate email
Joe Biden told Florida residents “your nation has your back” on Saturday as he toured areas of the state damaged by Hurricane Idalia.
The president assessed the scale of the storm’s impact from the air, before meeting members of the public on a walking tour.
But while Mr Biden was joined by one of the state’s Republican senators – Rick Scott – his trip was snubbed by governor Ron DeSantis, a possible rival in the next presidential election.
“As I’ve told your governor, if there’s anything your state needs, I’m ready to mobilize that support,” Mr Biden said.
Idalia ploughed into Florida as a Category 3 hurricane on Wednesday morning before losing power as it moved inland through Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.
At around 5pm on Saturday afternoon the National Hurricane Center issued what it said was its final advisory on Idalia, noting that the post-tropical cyclone had moved away off Bermuda and that the storm warning for the island was discontinued.
Potentially dangerous surf and rip currents from Idalia will continue to hit the US east coast throughout the Labor Day weekend, it warned.
Did a rare blue supermoon make Hurricane Idalia worse for Florida?
Weather experts believe gravitational pull from the moon made for higher tides than usual...
Rare blue supermoon could make Hurricane Idalia hit Florida even harder
The moon’s gravitational pull is even stronger when it is closer to Earth, causing the tides to rise even higher
Watch: Biden says he will head to Florida on Saturday morning
ICYMI: Idalia pummels Cedar Key, Florida as it comes ashore
Hurricane Idalia pummels Cedar Key, Florida as it comes ashore
Hurricane Idalia pummeled Cedar Key, Florida as it came ashore on Wednesday 30 August.
Floridians surf in Hurricane Idalia waves as evacuations ordered from county
A group of Floridians were filmed surfing in rough waves ahead of Hurricane Idalia’s landfall, as evacuations were ordered by a number of counties across Florida. In a video shared by TikTok user @daisypitch, five people can be seen in the water on Sunset Beach, Treasure Island, at 1:30pm on Tuesday 29 August. “Quick surf sesh in the Cat 3,” she wrote, captioning the footage. Treasure Island, located in Pinellas County, was under an evacuation order which commenced at 7pm on Monday. The order has since been lifted.
ICYMI: DeSantis hit by power outage in middle of Hurricane Idalia briefing
Ron DeSantis was hit by a power outage in the middle of his press conference about Hurricane Idalia on Wednesday morning, as the storm barreled into Florida’s Big Bend region.
Ron DeSantis hit by power outage in middle of Hurricane Idalia briefing
While thousands of Floridians have been plunged into darkness as a result of Hurricane Idalia, Governor Ron DeSantis’ briefing was disrupted by a power outage of its own
Rare lightning phenomenon captured in the sky during Hurricane Idalia evacuations
A rare weather phenomenon, in which lightning appears upside down, was captured by pilots as Hurricane Idalia approached Florida. The stunning footage of St. Elmo’s fire - a phenomenon in which luminous plasma is created in an atmospheric electric field - was filmed by pilots at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa on Monday 28 August. A tweet confirmed that all aircraft had been evacuated from the base as Hurricane Idalia headed in their direction. It was a Category 2 storm when the footage was captured and made landfall as a Category 3.
Why destructive hurricanes often start with the letter ‘I’
The process of naming hurricanes comes under scrutiny every year. Here are your questions answered...
Why destructive hurricanes like Idalia often start with the letter ‘I’
Idalia tore through Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas this week
Voices: The hidden crisis looming behind Hurricane Idalia
Skylar Baker-Jordan writes:
Working in the mortgage industry in the 2010s, I knew three things to be true about Florida real estate transactions: closings do not require an attorney, it has a decent homebuyer assistance program, and homeowners’ insurance was becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. This is bad news for a state that already has homeowners’ insurance rates four times higher than the national average, making it the most expensive state for homeowner’s insurance.
Read on...
The hidden crisis looming behind Hurricane Idalia
Believing in climate change – with all the scientific evidence to support it – is a bridge too far for Ron DeSantis
In pictures: Satellite photos show before and after of Hurrican Idalia in Florida
Satellite images capture Florida before and after Hurricane Idalia made landfall
Florida Highway Patrol said that two men were killed in two separate weather-related road accidents. In Georgia, a man was killed by a falling tree while he was trying to clear another tree off a highway
Florida highway partially submerged as Hurricane Idalia makes landfall
Traffic camera footage shows a flooded Florida interstate as Hurricane Idalia made landfall in the state. Idalia hit the Big Bend region as a “life-threatening” Category 3 storm before downgrading to a Category 2 as it moved across land. Footage from an I-275 traffic camera over Tampa Bay shows water submerging the northbound lanes. A release from The National Hurricane Center on Wednesday morning (30 August) said that Florida’s Big Bend region was hit with a “catastrophic storm surge” and “damaging winds” were also spreading inland over northern parts of the state.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies