At least two people have died as a result of dangerous conditions from Hurricane Idalia, which made landfall Wednesday morning on Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 3 major hurricane, pummeling the Sunshine State with widespread flooding, “life-threatening” storm surges and hurricane-force winds, though the storm has since been downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane as it enters Georgia.
Palm trees at Clearwater Harbor after Hurricane Idalia made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane.
A 40-year-old man in Florida, whose name has not been publicly identified, died in Pasco County—which contains the city of Tampa—early Wednesday morning, after losing control of his vehicle while driving in the hurricane, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
Florida Highway Patrol troopers said a 59-year-old man from Gainesville, Florida, was also killed on Wednesday after veering into a ditch and hitting a tree while driving, local ABC affiliate WCJR reported.
Videos and photos of the storm show widespread flooding and coastal damage from the storm, which inundated the runways at Tampa International Airport, caused roof damage in Perry, Florida, flooded a major highway and downed trees and ripped homes and storefronts apart along the Gulf Coast.
In a strange phenomenon, intense storm surge from Idalia reversed Florida’s Steinhatchee River, tearing sailboats from their moorings and driving them upriver, where their masts were snapped as they collided with a bridge.
Idalia has also wreaked havoc on storefronts and mobile homes, and in Valdosta, Georgia, caused an electrical transformer to explode, as the storm crossed into Georgia as a Category 1 storm.
More than 275,000. That’s how many homes and businesses in Florida lacked power as of noon on Wednesday, just hours after Idalia made landfall, according to outage tracker poweroutage.us. Another 64,000 customers in Georgia were also without power Wednesday morning.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said in a press conference ahead of Idalia’s landfall that more than 100,000 households that had lacked power had since been restored Wednesday morning. Roughly 25,000 workers and first responders had been mobilized in the state in preparation for the hurricane, the Tallahassee Democrat reported on Tuesday.
Residents in more than two dozen counties along the Florida Gulf Coast were issued mandatory and voluntary evacuation orders on Tuesday, as Idalia barreled toward the Sunshine State after making initial landfall in Cuba. Idalia was a stunning reminder of Hurricane Ian just 11 months ago, which took a remarkably similar path over the Gulf of Mexico, making landfall south of Tampa as a Category 4 hurricane and wreaking havoc along Florida’s shoreline, becoming Florida’s deadliest storm in nearly 90 years. Like Ian, Idalia strengthened as it approached the Florida Gulf Coast, making landfall in the state’s Big Bend Region, southeast of Tallahassee, carrying maximum sustained winds of 125 mph and bringing “catastrophic impacts,” including storm surge up to 16 feet and “life-threatening winds,” according to the National Hurricane Center.
Hurricane Idalia Makes Landfall In Florida’s Big Bend As Category 3 Storm (Forbes)