Hurricane Idalia left communities digging out after causing widespread flooding and destruction

CEDAR KEY, Fla. — It was the hottest rental cottage at the Faraway Inn because it was right on the Gulf of Mexico and the sunsets were spectacular.

But when the owner returned to her little paradise on Cedar Key on Thursday, the cottage was gone.

"This is one of our cottages, Cottage 1, one of the most popular ones because it was closer to the water and people could see the water," Amy Firestine told NBC News, pointing at a handful of bricks scattered near the shoreline. "It is no longer there."

“We didn’t expect damage like this,” Firestine said.

Firestine and hundreds of other Cedar Key residents were forced to evacuate when Hurricane Idalia barreled ashore Wednesday morning in the sparsely populated Big Bend region of the Sunshine State, before continuing on through southern Georgia and the Carolinas.

With now Idalia in the Atlantic Ocean, residents across those states spent Thursday picking up the pieces, but Florida bore the brunt of the damage.

The extent of Idalia's destruction was clearly visible in the communities that felt the storm’s wrath first, like the Florida fishing village of Steinhatchee, which is about 200 miles north of Tampa.

There, just about every building in town appeared to have suffered some damage and there were several empty lots where homes once stood.

Richard Carmichael, who is 79 and has lived in Steinhatchee his entire life, fled inland and stayed with friends until the storm passed. When he returned, there was 5 feet of water in his house and all his furniture was destroyed.

“I thought I was prepared, but I didn’t put the stuff up high enough,” Carmichael said, surveying the wreckage. “What I have to do is take all this stuff and dump it.”

Still, Carmichael was counting his blessings and making plans to move back in.

“I’m going to leave this empty down here so I won’t have to go through this again,” he said. “I’m going to live on the second floor.”

Jessup Evans, 18, who was born and raised in Steinhatchee, was more fortunate, returning home Thursday to a home that appeared to have suffered just minimal damage. The same could not be said for many of his neighbors.

“It’s sad, just very sad,” Evans said before he set off to help them clean up what was left of their homes.

After Idalia barreled through Florida, it continued in a northeasterly direction through southern Georgia and the Carolinas before heading out into the Atlantic. So far, three deaths have been attributed to the storm — two in Florida and one in Georgia, officials have said.

By the time Idalia reached Charleston, South Carolina, it had weakened to a post-tropical cyclone. But it was still packing 40 mph winds when it barged into the historic city around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, right around high tide.

On Thursday morning, a major cleanup was underway in Charleston after Idalia churned up an epic storm surge — with high tide cresting at over 9 feet — that sent water cascading over the Battery seawall.

The floodwater, which had been shin-deep at some points Wednesday, was already starting to recede when the National Weather Service lifted the tropical storm and surge warnings around 2 a.m. for most of the South Carolina coastline, and city workers began clearing mud and debris.

Hours later, the downtown streets continued to be glazed with a coating of dark brown mud and sea shells, and littered with tree branches and other debris.

Tiny crabs that had been deposited downtown by the storm could be seen scuttling sideways across the slippery mess to get back to the safety of the seawall.

But all in all, Charleston residents said they were relieved that the damage wrought by Idalia wasn’t as bad as they feared. Charleston “really dodged the bullet again,” Mayor John Tecklenburg said at a news conference. “We’re really blessed.”

Many of his constituents agreed.

“Truthfully, it’s impressive, everything that’s left,” 55-year-old Alex Garcia said in Spanish as he shoveled swamp grass and downed branches outside the antebellum mansions that pre-date the Civil War. “There’s a lot of garbage to clean up. Lots of people are going to be busy today.”

As Garcia spoke, his co-worker Jesus Selvas cleared debris with a leaf blower near a downed metal construction fence.

“Everything was flooded here, all the streets and boardwalk,” Selvas, 47, said, also in Spanish. “This is going to take days to clean. The dirt left behind is ugly.”

When the storm blew, the tidewater spilled into downtown and turned roads into rivers, swamping cars and the lower floors of some houses.

“We had 22 water rescues, predominantly removing people from vehicles in flooded areas,” Dan Curia, the fire chief of the City of Charleston, said during the news conference. “Most of the activity for the department was between the hours of 7 p.m. and midnight.”

D.J. Hampton, president and CEO of Trident United Way in North Charleston, said his organization has already received nearly 490 calls throughout the state for help from residents in desperate need of food and shelter.

“We’re really grateful that we were spared the worst of the Idalia,” he said.

Still, Hampton said, they are calculating the losses in their community. He said several staff members were “severely impacted“ by the storm after losing power and being near flooded roads and are now relying on help from the United Way.

“Today, locally, is about assessing and cleanup that we need to do to support our own community after the storm,” Hampton said.

Minyvonne Burke reported from Steinhatchee, Florida, Guad Venegas reported from Cedar Key, Florida, Daniella Silva reported from Charleston, South Carolina, and Corky Siemaszko reported from New York City.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com