Living With Hurricanes, Floridians Prepare For Idalia To Make Landfall

It doesn’t matter where you decide to live. Out West, earthquakes, the cycle of dry, then wet years and the resulting mudslides and fires hamper residents. In Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas—it's the threat of tornadoes, while folks in the Northeast or Rockies deal with crippling snowdrifts, ice storms and cold temps. But in the Southeast, hurricanes are the biggest threat.    

“With Hurricane Idalia about to make landfall along the Gulf Coast, somewhere between Tallahassee and Tampa, we are preparing for the worse-case scenario,” said Chad at Generator Source in Jacksonville.


“They predict it will become a Category 3 Hurricane and maybe lesson to a Category 1 or better, a tropical storm, by the time it gets to Jacksonville,” added Chad. “The biggest concern will be the coastal areas on the Gulf Coast where the storm surge will cause flooding, the winds will cause power outages, and both will damage homes and businesses.”

“If you are told to evacuate, you must do that now," said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as he urged residents in low-lying areas to heed orders to seek higher ground, warning that the storm surge could cause flooding. “Evacuation orders have been issued in 22 counties, and more than 20 emergency shelters have been opened.”

The National Hurricane Center reported that Idalia intensified into a hurricane early on Tuesday. It was expected to reach Category 3. The NHC pinpoints the area of most concern between Tallahassee and Gainesville.

“We’ve been busy the last couple weeks servicing generators, getting everybody up to speed so if there’s an outage, their generators will fire up and give them standby power during this weather emergency. We are busy but we are always accepting new customers and want to be sure everyone is prepared.

“Living in the Florda region during hurricane season can give you anxiety,” continued Chad. “Floridians will hit the local stores for water and basic supplies and because of hurricanes, standby generators are required in more places of business than most other places in the country.

“Assisted living facilities, hospitals, surgery centers—they all need power to take care of their residents and patients, so we’ve been busy repairing and maintaining those types of facility’s power options ever since the storms started to develop. But we can always work with folks to properly maintain their generators long before there is an obvious threat.

“The other big industries that count on us are the manufactures and cold storage centers like supermarkets etc.,” said Chad. “Hurricanes aren’t the only weather systems that knock out power to these types of places, so having a standby generator could mean the difference of never missing a beat or downtime or all your cold storage items thawing and going bad.”

One of the biggest challenges in past hurricanes has been the recovery time to restore power. Chad said rental generators are often at worksites up to eight months after a large hurricane like when one hit Mexico Beach.

“The Generator Source field service team here in Jacksonville will be busy right up to landfall as clients reach out for last-minute service, or refueling,” said Chad. “But for safety of course, when the storm hits and it’s too dangerous to be out, we will hunker down like everybody else. Once the wind dies down, we can jump into to service calls or deliver a rental generator to help with recovery efforts. We also handle generator sales if a business decides they never want to feel powerless again.”

Generator Source offers field services for industrial and residential generators. The team can travel throughout Florida and into Georgia. Call (904) 914-7355 or click here for more information on the types of services we offer.