Tampa avoiding a direct hit from Idalia but making sure residents are ready
The city of Tampa has gone a century without getting hit directly by a major hurricane, but the mayor is emphasizing that safety is still key.
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00:00 Hurricane Idalia is a rapidly approaching landfall.
00:03 Now, last year, Hurricane Ian struck just south of Tampa.
00:08 This year, it appears,
00:10 Idalia is tracking to a hit to north of Tampa,
00:13 and joining us is a Tampa mayor, Jane Castor.
00:17 Jane, Mayor, thank you so much for joining us here
00:19 this evening, taking time out of your busy day.
00:21 - My pleasure.
00:23 - Now, Mayor, it has been more than 100 years
00:25 since Tampa was directly hit by a Category 3 hurricane.
00:29 That was back in 1921.
00:31 Now, last year, Hurricane Ian came close.
00:33 Now, with Idalia, are you surprised
00:36 by two of these consecutive years of hurricane danger?
00:39 - Well, not surprised by it,
00:42 but we have been very fortunate here in the Tampa Bay area
00:46 to have gone over a century
00:49 without being hit directly by a hurricane,
00:53 but that doesn't lessen our need for preparation
00:57 and ensuring that our community stays safe
00:59 and they understand the dangers of this storm.
01:02 - Now, in terms of precautions,
01:05 and again, preparations are underway right now.
01:09 - Yes, well, we have been preparing.
01:11 You know, we prepare throughout the year, exercise.
01:15 Although we haven't been hit,
01:17 we send resources to all of those other areas
01:20 throughout the Southeast that have been hit by hurricanes,
01:24 and we bring those lessons back, both positive and negative,
01:28 and incorporate those into our strategies and plans.
01:32 Here, we're keeping our community informed
01:35 on what they need to do to stay safe.
01:38 I think that we are prepared as a community,
01:41 but really what concerns me, first and foremost,
01:44 the winds that we're going to endure this evening
01:48 that can rise up to hurricane strength,
01:51 but also tomorrow with that storm surge.
01:54 To make sure that our community understands
01:57 that once the winds stop blowing,
01:58 that this incident is not over,
02:01 and the surge tomorrow may be the most impactful part
02:06 of Hurricane Adelia.
02:07 - You definitely struck it right there
02:10 with the impacts here,
02:12 that the force of water can be so, so powerful.
02:15 Quickly here, talk about the progression here
02:17 with evacuations.
02:18 What has been the urgency here,
02:20 urgency with the Tampa residents thus far?
02:23 - Right, as you know, we have sort of changed that strategy.
02:28 I was with the Tampa Police Department for 31 years.
02:31 I've been mayor for a little less than five.
02:33 So I've been involved with this,
02:36 with evacuations in a number of different ways.
02:39 And we've gone away from everybody needs
02:41 to just get out of town,
02:43 to as you have heard many, many times now,
02:46 hiding from the wind and running from the water.
02:49 So we let everyone know that if you're in that A zone,
02:54 that you need to get to higher ground.
02:56 And that can literally be 10, 15, 20 miles from your home.
03:00 But the time to do that is now.
03:03 And I really, considering we've been over a century,
03:07 no one has that experience or that muscle memory
03:10 of being hit.
03:11 But what was impactful for us was Hurricane Ian.
03:15 We were in the crosshairs there,
03:17 and we saw what happened to Fort Myers Beach
03:21 and the surrounding areas.
03:23 And everyone understands that
03:24 that could have been our community.
03:27 So I think point well taken that mother nature is in charge
03:31 in these types of incidents.
03:33 - That is a good point.
03:34 Thank you again so much for your time, Mayor Jane Castor.
03:38 - Thank you.