Massive Oak Tree Falls Near Florida Governor's Mansion During Hurricane Idalia
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A massive, century-old oak tree fell at the site of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ mansion in Tallahassee Wednesday, as Hurricane Idalia made its way through the state on Wednesday.
DeSantis’ wife, Casey, said that she and their three children were also at the site when it happened, “but thankfully no one was injured.”
“Our prayers are with everyone impacted by the storm,” she continued in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. Her post included an image of the tree, which had split down the center.
In a storm update on Wednesday, DeSantis addressed the fallen tree, calling it “ancient.”
“I don’t know that it fell on the residence per se,” he clarified. “I don’t know if they are going to cut down the whole tree.”
“If they do cut down the whole tree, that’s just going to be more room for kids to hit baseballs in,” DeSantis continued.
The hurricane made landfall as a Category 3 storm in the Big Bend area of Florida after slamming Cuba with large amounts of rain and strong gusts of wind. The storm has been regarded as “unprecedented” and possibly “catastrophic,” by the National Weather Service.
Tallahassee, where the governor’s mansion is located, didn’t get the worst of Idalia, according to NBC News. The highest gusts were reported at 30 mph, and there were reportedly 16 damaged structures and 22 fallen trees in Leon County, which houses Tallahassee, the county said in an update at 4:45 p.m. local time.
On Wednesday, DeSantis also told Floridians not to “put your life at risk by doing anything dumb at this point.”
“This thing’s powerful. If you’re inside, just hunker down until it gets past you,” he continued.
So far, at least two people have been killed as a result of the storm, CNN reported midday Wednesday.
Nearly 300,000 customers were without power across Florida around 2:40 p.m. local time, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks power outages across the country.
The storm is now making its way into Georgia, followed by South Carolina, according to CNN’s live updates.
