The underwater geology of the Gulf of Mexico makes the Gulf Coast particularly unguarded against the massive influx of seawater.
September 26, 2022, 7:06 PMIn this Sept. 16, 2020, file photo, a city worker drives through the flooded street during Hurricane Sally in downtown Pensacola, Fla.The more than 1,200 miles of shores in the southern U.S. that line the Gulf of Mexico are no stranger to strong storms -- but that doesn't make potential damage from an approaching cyclone any less likely.marches closer to the U.S.
In this Sept. 16, 2020, file photo, John Terrezza looks out at a flooded street in front of his home as Hurricane Sally passes through the area, in Pensacola, Fla.The continental shelf of the Florida Gulf Coast extends quite far offshore -- up to 200 miles in some spots, Truchelut said. The Tampa Bay area is "extremely sensitive" to storm surge, Brennan said, adding that the region could experience 5 to 8 feet of inundation -- meaning above ground-level flooding. The Fort Meyers and Charlotte Harbor areas could see 4 to 7 feet and regions farther south could see 3 to 5 feet of inundation, Brennan said.
"Right now, the way this storm is coming in, you'd have this sort of push of surge right into Tampa Bay and in regions along the Gulf, western Gulf Coast," Marshall Shepherd, director of the Atmospheric Sciences Program at the University of Georgia and former president of the American Meteorological Society, told ABC News.
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