Hurricane Idalia, supermoon tag team threat looms over Florida

Florida’s looming troubles from Hurricane Idalia may have increased as a rare blue supermoon may lead to tide levels rising further.

The supermoon is expected to pull tides higher than usual on the same day Idalia is expected to make landfall in the southern US.

Weather officials warned against a storm surge, saying water pouring on land could be as much as 15 feet in parts of Florida.

“I would say the timing is pretty bad for this one,” said Brian Haines, the meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service office in Charleston, South Carolina.

It’s expected to make tidal flooding worse not only in Florida but in states such as Georgia and South Carolina, where Haines’ office has been warning residents that parts of Charleston could be underwater by Wednesday night.

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The weather service is forecasting an 8.2-foot (2.5 meter) tide in Charleston Wednesday evening, which could produce widespread flooding in downtown Charleston, Haines said. 'Even with a 7.5-foot tide (2.3 meters), some roads in the city flood and become impassible,' he said.

(With AP inputs)