Idalia weakened to tropical storm hours after making landfall in Florida as Category 3 hurricane
Idalia roared ashore in Florida as a major Category 3 hurricane Wednesday morning, forcing residents to helplessly watch from inside emergency shelters and fortified homes as roads transformed into waterways and ferocious winds toppled trees and ripped buildings apart.
However, by early Wednesday evening, as the eye moved northeast and winds slowed, Idalia was downgraded to a tropical storm.
The National Hurricane Center said Wednesday afternoon the storm was centered west of Savannah, Ga., with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph. Storms must have sustained winds of at least 74 mph to be categorized as hurricanes.
However, Idalia was still forecasted to pummel the Carolinas overnight before heading into the Atlantic this weekend.
Officials urged caution earlier in the day as the Gulf Coast was slammed by rain and wind.
“Don’t put your life at risk by doing anything dumb at this point,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned. “This thing’s powerful. If you’re inside, just hunker down until it gets past you.”
The center of the hurricane moved over Big Bend near Keaton Beach, making landfall around 7:45 a.m. with maximum sustained windspeeds of 125 mph. The weather service in Tallahassee dubbed the storm an “unprecedented event,” declaring no major hurricane — Category 3 or higher — has ever passed through the bay adjacent to Big Bend, where the Florida Panhandle connects with the peninsula.
Traveling at a speed of about 20 mph as it hit land, the fast-moving storm carved out a path of ruin along a wide stretch of the Gulf Coast, bringing significant flooding to Tampa.
More than 460,000 homes and businesses in Florida and Georgia have lost power since Idalia made landfall, according to PowerOutage.us. The storm also spawned a tornado watch for some 12 million people across central and northern Florida, southeast Georgia and the coast of South Carolina — where at least one tornado touched down.
Despite early reports of fatalities linked to the hurricane — including a death in Pasco County confirmed by the Florida Highway Patrol — Gov. DeSantis emphasized during an afternoon news briefing that no deaths had yet been verified.
“There’s a process for confirmed fatalities,” he said, explaining that it involves both law enforcement officers and medical examiners. “That has not been done yet where we have a confirmation. I know there are unconfirmed reports. Those may end up becoming confirmed.”
Later on Wednesday, state officials, rescue crews and 5,500 members of the National Guard switched to recovery mode, inspecting bridges and roads, clearing fallen trees and other debris, and looking for anyone in distress.
Nearly 4,500 people are staying in Red Cross shelters in Hurricane Idalia’s impact areas, though many Floridians declined to heed the evacuation call. In hard-hit St. Petersburg, authorities have rescued at least one person who became trapped at the Twin City Mobile Home Park.
Andy Bair, the owner of the Island Hotel on Cedar Key, said he planned to “babysit” his bed-and-breakfast, which predates the Civil War.
“Being a caretaker of the oldest building in Cedar Key, I just feel kind of like I need to be here,” Bair said. “We’ve proven time and again that we’re not going to wash away. We may be a little uncomfortable for a couple of days, but we’ll be OK eventually.”
The storm started gaining momentum shortly after it formed in the Caribbean over the weekend. Fueled by warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico, Idalia strengthened into a Category 2 system on Tuesday, then into a Category 3 storm overnight.
Early Wednesday, it briefly upgraded to a mighty Category 4 hurricane before downgrading amid its push through the Sunshine State. Despite its slight weakening, the National Hurricane Center emphasized it is still an “extremely dangerous” weather event.
“This change in wind speed does not diminish the threat of catastrophic storm surge and damaging winds,” the National Weather Service said.
The White House has confirmed President Joe Biden is receiving updates on the hurricane’s path, along with regular briefings from his team.
Both Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced states of emergency, freeing up resources and the National Guard ahead of the storm’s arrival in their states. In Florida, dozens of counties were placed under a state of emergency while evacuations were ordered in at least 30 counties amid fears the storm would devastate more vulnerable coastal areas.
Biden also previously directed the federal government to pre-position people and resources ahead of Idalia’s landfall in a bid to support recovery efforts in Florida and beyond.
With News Wire Services
