KEATON BEACH, Fla – Hurricane Idalia made a historic landfall near Keaton Beach, Florida, as a Category 3 hurricane on Wednesday morning bringing with it a catastrophic storm surge and destructive winds of around 125 mph, and new pictures and videos are showing the extent of the monster storm’s impacts.
Hurricane Idalia is also causing power outages to skyrocket with more than 200,000 outages reported as of Wednesday morning. State officials have warned residents to prepare for long-duration outages, although tens of thousands of line men are standing by to restore power as quickly as possible.
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The Sarasota Police Department shared several photos on X, the company formerly known as Twitter, showing flooding along roads in the downtown area and near the water. The police department said several boats were damaged and sank in the Marina Jacks Basin when Hurricane Idalia spun by the area.
The police department said flooding has been reported downtown and several areas have been closed. Police have also been busy placing barricades so no cars can drive into areas that flooded as a result of Hurricane Idalia.
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The St. Petersburg Police Department also shared videos on X showing water covering a parking lot on Derby Lane, and bridges in the area have been closed.
Clearwater Beach, Florida, also appears to have been hit hard by flooding due to Hurricane Idalia. Video from the area shows vehicles trying to drive over water-covered roads, which is not advisable.
The police department has warned that several areas of Clearwater Beach are under water and access to the beach has been closed.