First Alert Weather In Depth: Hurricane Idalia had many impacts

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Hurricane Idalia made landfall at 7:45 a.m. Wednesday morning near the Panhandle of Florida.

Along the coast, this was really the definition of a storm surge. Storm surges are a common event with hurricanes and this is when the ocean is driven inland and produces massive inundation for many seaside communities.  In this case, it happened in places such as Keaton Beach and Horseshoe Beach in Florida.

You may be wondering: What is the frequency of this type of storm? Statistically, how often does a hurricane returns to this particular area? The research data from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows the number of years between occurrences with this type of hurricane, averages once every 13 years. For a major hurricane, the time frame is much greater. In this case, the frequency is once every 36 years.

Obviously, the News10NBC First Alert meteorologists are always looking for tropical storms and hurricanes no matter where they occur.

Hurricane Idalia is expected to weaken to a tropical storm and will continue to diminish in intensity in the coming days. However, going forward in time there is still a great threat for freshwater flooding and that is still likely to arrive in South Carolina and North Carolina. Many communities will see three to four inches of rain from the remnants of Idalia and some areas could see isolated amounts of another four to six inches of rain.

No doubt Idalia will be another hurricane added to the long history of destructive storms to reach the Unites States.