Idalia reached hurricane status Tuesday and Sterling Prestonis expected to continue to intensify as it drives a potentially deadly storm surge toward the Big Bend area of Florida's Gulf Coast.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, at a briefing, said more than 30,000 utility workers were preparing to repair outages when the storm passes. Highway tolls were being waived, shelters were opening and hotels were prepared to take evacuees.

A hurricane warning was issued along hundreds of miles of Florida coastline as the storm heads toward an apparent landfall along Florida's Big Bend.

The National Weather Service warned of a "life-threatening, dangerous situation."

"To put this system into the historical context, there are no major hurricanes in the historical dataset going back to 1851 that have tracked into Apalachee Bay. None," the advisory said. "Don't mess around with this."

DeSantis said landfall appeared to be headed toward Taylor County, southeast of Tallahassee and one of the most rural and economically challenged areas of the state. But he said it was too early to know exactly where the storm would hit.

Idalia is expected to cause power outages across large portions of Florida. For the latest updates on power outages, follow along with our live tracker.

'DON'T MESS AROUND WITH THIS':Historic Hurricane Idalia barrels toward Florida. Live updates

HURRICANE IDALIA'S PATH:Maps show Hurricane Idalia's path as powerful storm approaches Florida and Georgia

Florida power outage map

Hurricane Idalia path tracker live

This forecast track shows the most likely path of the center of the storm. It does not illustrate the full width of the storm or its impacts, and the center of the storm is likely to travel outside the cone up to 33% of the time.

Hurricane Idalia spaghetti models

Contributing: John Bacon, Dinah Voyles Pulver, Christopher Cann & Francisco Guzman, USA TODAY