That puts a number of zones in Bradenton, Fort Myers, Naples, Marco Island, Clearwater, and Palm Harbor under water.
The best hope for gulf-coasters is for Irma to pull up sooner rather than later. That would result in the brunt of the storm hitting the everglades before weakening over land. The Everglades can absorb much of the storm surge and partially break up the storm before it affects any major population hubs.
The worst-case scenario is, unfortunately, more likely. When it pulls up, the eye and its powerful wall will pass over Naples and push all the water into Tampa Bay. To make matters worse, the timing of the storm will have it approaching the Tampa area close high tide.
After the storm, recovery efforts are expected to be as effective as possible. However, that will still leave many without power excluding the effects of a devastating storm surge.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott said that roughly 25,000 power outages were reported as of early Saturday morning. FEMA echoes the Governor’s report, adding that Floridians could expect “days” without power. Florida Power & Light expects Irma to leave up to 9 million Floridians without power.
