For the second time in less than a year, Taylor County, Florida has endured a hurricane landfall.
At 7 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 5th, Hurricane Debby made landfall at Steinhatchee, Florida, a small community in southern Taylor County as a Category 1 storm.
That's less than 20 miles away from Keaton Beach, Florida where Hurricane Idalia made landfall at 7:45 a.m. as a Category 3 storm just 341 days earlier on Aug. 30th, 2023.
Taylor County, Florida is a large county along what's commonly referred to as the "Big Bend" region of Florida.
But, unlike the coastal counties around southern Florida, Taylor County is not densely populated.
According to the US Census Bureau, the entire county is home to just more than 21,000 people.
Widespread power outages are being reported in Taylor County and other areas of northern Florida in the wake of the hurricane.
As of 1 p.m. on Monday, August 5th, six counties in the northern part of the state are reporting the percentage of customers without power exceeding 80%.
The paths of Hurricanes Debby and Idalia were very similar, especially when the storms were west of our part of the state.
The local impacts of coastal flooding, spin-up tornadoes and heavy rain with outer rainbands from both storms in our community should emphasize the point that tropical system impacts always extend beyond a storm's forecast cone.
This is an especially important point when storms are in the Gulf of Mexico.
Typically, the most intense weather around a tropical system is to the east of it's center. So, anytime a tropical storm or hurricane is in the Gulf, Southwest Florida needs to be aware of what's going on, even if we are nowhere near the landfall point.