Several live cams are currently available along Florida's Gulf Coast to watch as Tropical Storm Idalia makes its arrival in the coming days.
Strengthening as it has passed through the Gulf of Mexico, Idalia is currently predicted to make landfall along Florida's Gulf Coast by Wednesday morning. As of early Monday, the storm was situated approximately 150 miles off the western tip of Cuba and was generating sustained winds of up to 60 miles per hour. Residents nearest to the coast and who live in mobile homes have already been given mandatory evacuation orders.
The National Hurricane Center has predicted that Idalia will continue to strengthen, potentially escalating to a Category 3 hurricane, with sustained winds of around 120 miles per hour and gusts as fast as 150 miles per hour. While not expected to reach the same destructive power, Idalia is expected to hit near the same region of western Florida where Category 5 Hurricane Ian made landfall in September 2022.
Newsweek reached out to emergency management officials in Florida via email for further comment.
Those looking to observe as Idalia makes landfall in the coming days from a safe distance can tune in to one of several live cams currently broadcasting from various points along Florida's western coast. One such feed is situated near the beach by the French's Rockaway Grill restaurant in Clearwater, a coastal city on the edge of the Tampa metropolitan area.
Another one is located a bit further inland on the campus of the University of Tampa, with a view of the Hillsborough River.
Another view is available via a YouTube channel called Pelican Pete, with a view of a marina in an unspecified part of St. Petersburg, southwest of Tampa.
Several more are set up from various angles at the White Sands Resort on Anna Maria Island, south of the Tampa metro area.
Tampa is one of the biggest cities set to be impacted by Tropical Storm Idalia, situated near the southern edge of its projected path. According to available models for the storm's trajectory, its center will pass over the Apalachee Bay region, where the Florida peninsula's western coast curves west into the panhandle.
Idalia will continue overland, passing over Jacksonville before moving past Florida and onto the eastern coastal regions of Georgia and South Carolina. From there, it will make its way back over the Atlantic Ocean.
In a statement from Sunday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis urged residents to prepare for the possibility of widespread power outages, and to take the steps necessary if their lives would be threatened by them.
"Please prepare for that, particularly if this storm ends up coming in the Tallahassee region, there's a lot of trees that are going to get knocked down, the power lines are going to get knocked down," DeSantis said. "That is just going to happen, so just be prepared for that and be able to do what you need to do. If you are power dependent, particularly people who are elderly or who have medical needs, please plan on going to a shelter."
