Category 3 storm now, but will still be significant. FYI David -- Tallahassee expected to get hurricane force winds. Hurricanes weaken once they go over land, but they don't just disappear as you implied. During the Governor's press briefing power went off. At least he didn't tell Floridians to drink salt water (I don't think)...
Hurricanes almost instantly drop in intensity when the eye hits land, dropping usually by about 3 grades within a distance equal to the radius of the eye. So when the "soft side" of the storm hits Tallahassee it will likely be right between a Category 1 and a Tropical Storm.
You really have to have lived through a number of these storms to have a feel for how to deal with them based on your location as no two are totally equal. Some of my family went through María in 2017 and the biggest issue was the loss of infrastructure such as power, cellular, phones, and any roadway that had a bridge. Some areas did not regain all services for 6 to 9 months. The narrow coast land flooded, and in many areas of the mountainous interior of the Island there were floods and road wash outs due to the inability of natural stream beds to take so much water. Illegal construction, typically the building of wooden second floors or extensions to legal reinforced concrete homes and buildings, was almost always damaged or destroyed, with the pieces being blown into power poles and windows and parked cars (PR does not have enclosed garages at single family homes and even apartments have open wall parking areas).
Puerto Rico, where I spent most of a period of 30 years (and worked "in transit" for over 50 years and have family), is just 3,000 square miles, about 85 miles wide by 35 miles from north to south.
Much of the time I lived about 15 miles inland in metro San Juan and storms hit from the south or southeast, and by the time they got the 20 to 35 miles from the entry point, they were down in strength by at least two categories. Since I lived at around 300 feet above sea level in a foothill region, never saw coastal flooding and never had destructive winds.
Again, Tallahassee, where I ran WTNT and WNLS for years, is a couple of hundred feet above sea level and the main issue will be flooding where poor city planning has not compensated for urbanization's destruction of natural drainage "systems".
Also, Tallahassee is on the western side of the eye, so the effect is vastly less severe than on the right side of the storm which continues to pick up ocean water until a while after what is left of the eye is totally inland.
The biggest area inland that will still get a fairly strong effect is Live Oak and Lake City. Neither area has good natural drainage, and is filled with lakes and ponds that will fill and overflow. Yes, I ran WDSR and its sister FM there years ago and even had a home in Lake City. Similarly, the area to the north towards Valdosta is flat and does not have the ability to drain rapidly. Otherwise, that area is quite isolated until Gainsville / Ocala to the south and Jax to the East.
