Hurricane Idalia menaces Florida’s Big Bend, the ‘Nature Coast’ far from tourist attractions

By CURT ANDERSON
Associated Press

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. Now it’s in 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. It’s where people go to appreciate nature and be left alone. But Hurricane Idalia would be the first major storm to hit there since Hurricane Easy in 1950, according to the National Hurricane Center.