Hurricane Idalia Exposes Florida’s Dangerous Flood Insurance Gap
Areas hit hard by the storm have low rates of flood coverage, even as the threat from extreme weather rises.
Hurricane Idalia unleashed its fury on northwest Florida on Wednesday morning, landing in a sparsely populated area with winds of 125 miles (201 kilometers) per hour and 9 feet of storm surge. Although the urban conglomeration of Tampa-St. Petersburg was spared a direct hit, Idalia still brought upwards of 4 feet of storm surge to Tampa Bay. Videos on social media showed water threatening homes and flooded roads as the storm lashed the region before barreling into Georgia and South Carolina.
Mike Carballa, the administrator of Pasco County north of Tampa, told CNN that between 4,000 and 6,000 homes in his county had flooded. As of Thursday morning, areas of South Carolina were experiencing flooding as well, and tens of thousands of people across the Southeast were without power.