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ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Florida’s Big Bend is one of the last truly natural places in the state. It’s not Disney World. It’s not South Beach. This is where people go to hunt alligators, fish for tarpon and search for scallops in the shallow waters. On Wednesday, it became the bull’s-eye of a major hurricane.
The Big Bend is where the peninsula merges into the Panhandle, just southeast of the capital, Tallahassee, and well north of the Tampa metro area. Hurricane Idalia made landfall Wednesday morning near Keaton Beach in the lightly populated region as a high-end Category 3 hurricane, becoming the first major storm to hit the Big Bend region since Hurricane Easy in 1950, according to the National Hurricane Center.
This is where people go to appreciate nature and be left alone.
“The counties of Florida’s Nature Coast believe that many people — our residents, and those who travel here from far away — think having a good time involves more than expensive restaurants, theme parks, and crowded beaches,” a website devoted to the region says.
“When you want to get away, we have what you’re looking for. Forests to explore, blackwater rivers and crystal clear spring-fed streams to paddle, secluded spots to camp, and trails to ride and hike,” the website says. The counties in the region have more than 1 million acres (465,000 hectares) of unspoiled land.
The National Weather Service in Tallahassee called Idalia “an unprecedented event” since no major hurricanes on record have ever passed through the bay abutting the Big Bend region.
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