KEATON BEACH, Fla. – Millions of people in the Southeast are starting to pick up the pieces Thursday after Hurricane Idalia made a historically rare landfall along Florida’s Gulf Coast early Wednesday morning and blasted the region with destructive winds, torrential rain and storm surge flooding.
The Category 3 hurricane roared ashore in the Big Bend region of Florida near Keaton Beach and moved through southern Georgia and the Carolinas, spawning tornadoes, destroying buildings and taking down trees and power lines along its destructive path.
More than 300,000 power outages remain across the Southeast Thursday morning, but crews have been working diligently to make repairs and restore power even as now Tropical Storm Idalia’s powerful winds were still wreaking havoc across the region.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday said there were no confirmed fatalities as a result of Idalia, but the Florida Highway Patrol said two men were killed in separate rain-related crashes in Gainesville and Pasco County.
The storm led to numerous reports of flooding across the region from Florida to the Carolinas. Officials had warned people to stay away from the beach in Clearwater, Florida, as a storm surge inundated the coast.
The storm surge in Tampa Bay and Clearwater reached more than 3 feet by early Wednesday morning, with more water rushing in during the high tide.
Charleston, South Carolina, was also slammed with a storm surge due to Idalia. Winds of up to 40 mph pushed water from the Atlantic Ocean onto city streets, and the National Weather Service said Wednesday evening that water breached the Charleston Batters, the seawall in Charleston.
Major coastal flooding was also reported in downtown Charleston and Edisto Beach.
A rare Flash Flood Emergency was also issued in Valdosta, Georgia, as Idalia dropped more than 7 inches of rain in hours, leading to the town’s wettest day in more than 20 years and reports of water rescues as flooding affected homes. Idalia’s winds gusting over 65 mph and rain also uprooted trees across the city and damaged businesses.
The latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) has Tropical Storm Idalia located about 45 miles to the south-southwest of Wilmington, North Carolina. The tropical storm has winds of 60 mph and it was moving off to the east-northeast at 21 mph.
That general motion is expected to continue through Thursday morning before Idalia begins to move east and then east-southeast later in the day and continue through Saturday.
On that track, Idalia will move off the coast of North Carolina on Thursday and will move over the western Atlantic Ocean into the weekend.
Little change in strength is expected on Thursday, but gradual weakening is expected on Friday and Saturday.