Airports in the region, including Tampa International Airport, planned to restart commercial operations either Wednesday afternoon or Thursday. More than 30,000 utility workers in Florida were gathering to make repairs as quickly as possible in the hurricane’s wake. Two others, including a sheriff’s deputy, were injured when the tree fell, Paulk said. One man was killed in Valdosta when a tree fell on him as he was trying to clear another tree out of the road Wednesday, said Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk.
Hurricane Idalia strengthened to a dangerous Category 4 storm Wednesday morning as it steams toward Florida’s Big Bend region and threatens to unleash life-threatening storm surges and rainfall. State officials, 5,500 National Guardsman and rescue crews were in search-and-recovery mode, inspecting bridges, clearing toppled trees and looking for anyone in distress.īecause of the remoteness of the Big Bend area, search teams may need more time to complete their work compared with past hurricanes in more urban areas, said Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Department of Emergency Management. Police officers blocked traffic into the coastal community of more than 500 residents known for fishing and foresting industries. Less than 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of where Idalia made landfall, businesses, boat docks and homes in Steinhatchee, Florida, were swallowed up by water surging in from Deadman’s Bay. Heavy rains partially flooded Interstate 275 in Tampa and wind toppled power lines onto the northbound side of Interstate 75 just south of Valdosta, Georgia. In Perry, the wind blew out store windows, tore siding off buildings and overturned a gas station canopy. Rushing water covered streets near the coast, unmoored small boats and nearly a half-million customers in Florida and Georgia lost power. That doesn’t mean that it didn’t do major damage. Unlike that storm, Idalia blew into a very lightly inhabited area known as Florida’s “nature coast,” one of the state’s most rural regions that lies far from crowded metropolises or busy tourist areas and features millions of acres of undeveloped land. Preliminary data showed the Wednesday evening high tide reached just over 9.2 feet (2.8 meters), more than 3 feet (0.9 meters) above normal and the fifth-highest reading in Charleston Harbor since records were first kept in 1899.įlorida had feared the worst while still recovering from last year’s Hurricane Ian, which hit the heavily populated Fort Myers area, leaving 149 dead in the state. In Charleston, storm surge from Idalia topped the seawall that protects the downtown, sending ankle-deep ocean water into the streets and neighborhoods where horse-drawn carriages pass million-dollar homes and the famous open-air market. Two people received minor injuries.Īlong South Carolina’s coast, North Myrtle Beach, Garden City, and Edisto Island all reported ocean water flowing over sand dunes and spilling onto beachfront streets Wednesday evening. The winds sent a car flying and flipped it over, according to authorities and eyewitness video.
Idalia spawned a tornado that briefly touched down in the Charleston, South Carolina, suburb of Goose Creek, the National Weather Service said. It was forecast to move near or along the coast of South Carolina through Wednesday night and then just off the coast of North Carolina on Thursday before heading out into the Atlantic Ocean. The storm brought strong winds to Savannah, Georgia, Wednesday evening as it made its way toward the Carolinas. No hurricane-related deaths were officially confirmed in Florida, but the Florida Highway Patrol reported two people dying in separate weather-related crashes just hours before Idalia made landfall. As the eye moved inland, high winds shredded signs, blew off roofs, sent sheet metal flying and snapped tall trees.
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