The cost of Idalia: How much damage did the storm do to Hilton Head?
Despite Hurricane Idalia making landfall near Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 3 storm, spinning across and arriving in South Carolina bringing record high tides bolstered by a blue super moon, Hilton Head and the Lowcountry were spared the worst of the storm’s wrath.
Having weakened to a tropical storm by the time it tracked into Beaufort and Jasper Counties, Idalia’s mild passing was more conducive to hurricane parties and cocktails than an evacuation. Even a “mild” tropical storm brings wind gusts nearing 80 mph, however, and not everyone on Hilton Head was lucky enough to escape unscathed.
Much of the damage that was done came at the hands of powerful wind gusts toppling old, weakened trees or ripping away large branches. According to Hilton Head Island Building Official Christopher Yates, $135,000 of damage was caused by trees and limbs alone.
Power lines downed by trees and detached branches left 33,000 in the Lowcountry without power at one point.
The town recorded five homes across the island damaged by fallen trees. The severity of the damage varied, from one falling onto an islander’s front porch — a roughly $5,000 repair — to another smashing through a home’s roof, a repair estimated to cost $70,000.
Three other homes had trees fall onto their roofs without breaking through, still causing enough damage to necessitate $20,000 each in repairs.
Hilton Head Fire Rescue responded to 33 Idalia-related calls as the storm pushed across the island and back into the Atlantic. Of those 33, 31 were “tree down related incidents.”
That number pales in comparison to the estimated 120,000 trees that were downed by 2016’s Hurricane Matthew, and the 80 claimed by Hurricane Dorian in 2019. Fire personnel were busier during Dorian as well, taking over 100 calls related to the storm according to data provided by Battalion Chief Christopher Osterman.
The island largely escaped Idalia, but residents may not have much time to catch their breath. Meteorologists have warned residents not to let their guard down with Hurricane Lee intensifying near the Caribbean.
It has already become a Category 1 hurricane, and is expected to grow into an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm by the weekend. Its path is still uncertain, but the storm could approach Hilton Head from the Atlantic or spin up the coast, tracking northeast and dissipating at sea.
Most current models of the hurricane’s predicted path lean toward the latter, with Lee curving northeast toward Bermuda.
