Tag Archives: Hurricane Idalia
Rebuild or What? Florida Towns Hit Three Times by Hurricanes Face Tough Choice
It was just a month ago that Brooke Hiers left the state-issued emergency trailer where her family had lived since Hurricane Idalia slammed into her Gulf Coast fishing village of Horseshoe Beach in August 2023. For the third time in 13 months, this windswept stretch of Florida’s Big Bend took a direct hit from a hurricane — a one-two-three punch to a 50-mile (80-kilometer) sliver of the state’s more than 8,400 miles (13,500 kilometers) of coastline, first by Idalia, then Category 1 Hurricane Debby in August 2024 and now Helene. Hiers, who sits on Horseshoe Beach’s town council, said words like “unbelievable” are beginning to lose their meaning. “I’ve tried to use them all. Catastrophic. Devastating. Heartbreaking … none of that explains what happened here,” Hiers said. more, >>CLICK TI READ<< 07:03
Florida Gov. DeSantis Requests Aid For Fishing Industry
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday sent a formal request to the U.S. Department of Commerce seeking assistance for the fishing industry after last week’s Hurricane Idalia. Without putting a dollar figure on the potential damage, DeSantis said in a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo that the commercial and residential fishing communities in North Florida’s Big Bend region were “greatly affected” by the Category 3 hurricane. Florida’s Big Bend is an important cornerstone of the state’s fishery,” DeSantis said in the letter. “This region includes over 600 fishermen, 160 fishery wholesalers and retailers, 240 aquaculture shellfish farmers, and 450 for-hire charter captains, all of which play important commercial fishery roles.” ><<>click to read<< 07:54
Cortez fishing village inundated by Hurricane Idalia
As residents and business owners cleaned up on Thursday morning following the storm surge from Hurricane Idalia that flooded local roads, the recurring consensus was: “We got lucky.” “There was no boat damage (to the fleet of fishing boats). We lost a few boards on the dock,” A.P. Bell Fish Co. owner Karen Bell said. “We were very lucky.” Cortez is one of Florida’s last commercial fishing villages. It hugs the north shore of Sarasota Bay. On Wednesday morning, its roads were underwater, but by that evening, the waters had receded and roads were passable. In advance of the storm, A.P. Bell workers had secured the fleet of fishing boats with extra dock lines. 11 photos, >>click to read<< 17:27
Idalia demolished some Florida fishing communities. But locals say they’ll rebuild
For five generations, Austin Ellison’s family has toiled in the shrimping and fishing business here in this picturesque shoreline community nestled in what’s known as Florida’s Nature Coast along the state’s northern Gulf Coast. But when Hurricane Idalia barreled into the coast as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday with 125 mph winds, his family business, Ed’s Bait House, was pounded to the ground. Ellison points to his shrimping boat, named Miss Laura, floating in a nearby canal. The storm smashed out its windows, but the vessel survived otherwise. To Ellison, rebuilding means not just the cost of construction, but the additional expense of meeting modern storm-proofing requirements — a daunting task for someone who makes less than $30,000 a year as a seasonal fisherman. Photos, >>click to read<< 09:37
Florida Gov. DeSantis To Seek Aid For Fishing Industry
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday said the state will seek federal help for the fishing industry in the Big Bend region, as cleanup efforts moved into a second day from the devastation caused by Hurricane Idalia. Meanwhile, the state reported its first confirmed death related to Idalia, while utility workers still had about 135,000 customer power outages to tackle from the Category 3 storm, many in sparsely populated areas of North Florida. The governor’s plan to seek help from the U.S. Department of Commerce for the fishing industry followed White House approval of a separate request for a major disaster declaration. >>click to read<< 17:22
Hurricane Idalia at Category 3 strength ahead of Florida landfall
Hurricane Idalia strengthened into a powerful Category 4 storm Wednesday morning, then weakened slightly to a Category 3, ahead of landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region. According to the 7 a.m. advisory from the National Hurricane Center, Idalia has maximum sustained winds of 125 miles per hour, and catastrophic storm surge and destructive winds are nearing the Big Bend. WPTV First Alert Weather meteorologist Jennifer Correa said landfall is expected around 8 a.m. Wednesday, and Idalia’s center should stay east of Tallahassee. After making landfall on Wednesday, Idalia will weaken to a Category 2 hurricane over southeastern Georgia, and then a tropical storm by late Wednesday. >>click to read<< 08:04
