Hurricane Idalia made landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast Wednesday morning with the National Weather Service warning of a "life-threatening, dangerous situation."
USA TODAY is providing live coverage of the storm as it makes landfall in Florida. You can watch the coverage at the top of the page or on USA TODAY's YouTube channel.
A hurricane warning has been issued for hundreds of miles of Florida's coastline as Idalia has become Category 3 storm, with sustained winds of 125 mph.
As of 5 a.m. Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center said the storm's center was forecast to reach the Big Bend coast of Florida this morning. After landfall, Idalia was expected to turn toward the northeast and east-northeast, moving near or along the coasts of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina later Wednesday and Thursday.
At a briefing Tuesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said highway tolls were being waived, shelters were opening and hotels were prepared to take evacuees. More than 30,000 utility workers were preparing to repair outages once the storm passes.
Maps:Hurricane Idalia's path as powerful storm approaches Florida and Georgia
Webcams are planted at beaches along Florida's Gulf Coast, with some in Hurricane Idalia's potential path. See what the scene in Florida looks like:
Clearwater Beach is located on the west-central coast along the Gulf of Mexico, around 25 miles west of Tampa.
Tampa, along the Gulf of Mexico, is south of where Idalia's eye was projected to make landfall, but flooding in the Tampa Bay area had already begun by Wednesday morning and the city could still face high winds. It is about 23 miles north of St. Petersburg and 25 miles east of Clearwater Beach.
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