Hurricane Idalia is now being tipped to become a Category 4 event, according to the National Hurricane Center, as it barrels towards the Big Bend region of Florida’s Gulf Coast, where locals are bracing themselves for a life-threatening storm surge and dangerous high winds.
Idalia was upgraded from tropical storm status on Tuesday morning as it crossed the Gulf of Mexico and is forecast to hit northwestern Florida on Wednesday, packing 120mph winds, before blowing through southern Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina and then back out into the Atlantic.
