AccuWeather's Tony Laubach reported live from Lake City on the evening of Aug. 29 as Idalia's outer bands began to move in and people hunkered down for the impending storm.
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00:00 We're going to be dealing with this for days to come and possibly in coastal areas of the Gulf Coast of Florida.
00:07 It's going to be more than weeks. It'll be even months of recovery.
00:12 OK, Accuweather meteorologist Tony Loback continues our team coverage tonight.
00:16 He joins us now from Lake City, Florida, about 50 miles inland from Florida's Nature Coast, where preparations are underway ahead of landfall.
00:28 Yeah, preparations are underway and we're already starting to see some weather move in.
00:32 These are some of the outer bands. You see that dark line of clouds behind me.
00:35 These are some strong storms that are starting to work up into the area here.
00:38 This is looking off to the south and west, off to my south and east.
00:42 We've got even stronger storms coming up this direction.
00:45 So while the hurricane still got some time to go, we're going to start seeing those bands of storms work their way up.
00:50 And yes, folks, that will bring an increased threat of tornadoes.
00:53 Now, as things are going to start picking up around here earlier today, it was kind of serene.
00:57 Now, keep in mind, I'm from Colorado. I'm a landlocked state.
00:59 It's very unusual to be down in this area here.
01:02 And we were kind of checking out some of the beaches along the west coast of Florida.
01:06 And it was just a quiet day, missing a lot of folks.
01:09 A lot of folks in some of these smaller areas along the Big Bend have evacuated and moved out.
01:13 So really, it was just the seagulls that were enjoying a very peaceful day on the beach.
01:17 Really kind of hard to wrap your head around it.
01:20 If you're not from here, really what's going on?
01:22 But as we were mentioning here, this is an area that hasn't taken a hit quite a while.
01:26 And folks, both business owners and residents, certainly concerned with what's coming.
01:31 They're talking about a 150 mile an hour wind, and that's something that we've not ever experienced here.
01:36 So that's our biggest concern. That and the water. I mean, the water, you can't really do anything about that.
01:40 Now, we are concerned here inland, as you mentioned, 50 to 60 miles inland,
01:50 with the speed of this hurricane that is going to roll up over the coast.
01:53 It's going to give it a little less time to weaken as it moves over land.
01:56 So areas like Lake City, again, 50, 60 miles inland,
01:59 certainly could be seeing some of those hurricane conditions after we get after sunrise tomorrow.
02:04 So that is why we're stationed here, because we are expecting those hurricane conditions to move inland.
02:08 So areas along I-75, Interstate 10 from Tallahassee over to Jacksonville,
02:13 those areas are going to become extremely dangerous tomorrow.
02:16 We'll be here in the area tomorrow covering these conditions.
02:18 But again, as this storm is going to prove, Kevin,
02:21 you don't need to be right on the coast to feel the significant effects that we'll likely see here tomorrow morning.
02:26 You got it, Tony. It's going to be degrees of destruction is what it's going to be.
02:31 And the coast will most likely see the worst of it.
02:33 But where you are, we hope that you stay as safe as possible,
02:37 because 8 to 12 inches of rain, my friend, that's going to cause some serious problems.
02:41 So take care out there. We appreciate the report.
02:46 We're going to bring in Michelle now, because we're going to be watching this storm really for the next 12 hours
02:50 approach the Florida Big Bend area.
02:53 Some people call it the nature coast, but this is an update, Michelle.
02:56 We have now wind sustained of 105 miles an hour, and we've got the Saffir-Simpson scale up here.