Florida residents living along Hurricane Idalia's path of destruction on Friday were still picking through piles of rubble where homes once stood, throwing tarps over ripped-apart roofs and gingerly navigating streets left underwater or clogged with fallen trees and dangerous electric wires.
The scope of the disaster was coming into sharper focus Friday. A power cooperative warned its 28,000 customers it might take two weeks to restore electricity. Emergency officials promised trailers would arrive over the weekend to provide housing in an area that didn't have much to begin with.
“We’ll build back. We’ll continue to fish and enjoy catching the redfish and trout and eating oysters and catching scallops and eating them," said real estate agent Jimmy Butler, who lives in Horseshoe Beach, which saw some of the worst damage.
The storm made landfall Wednesday near Keaton Beach where it razed homes and downed power poles as a Category 3 hurricane with 125 mph winds. The storm then tore through largely rural stretches of inland Florida and southern Georgia.
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Thousands of utility line workers rushed to restore power in Florida but around 90,000 customers were still without electricity Friday morning.
The storm had moved away from the U.S. coast early Thursday and spun out into the Atlantic, still packing winds of 60 mph on Friday. It could hit Bermuda on Saturday, bringing heavy rainfall and potential flash flooding to the island, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
Meanwhile, residents along the path of destruction returned to pick through piles of rubble that used to be homes.
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James Nobles returned to the tiny town of Horseshoe Beach in Florida’s remote Big Bend to find his home had survived the battering winds and rain but many of his neighbors weren’t as fortunate.
“The town, I mean, it’s devastated,” Nobles said. “It’s probably 50 or 60 homes here, totally destroyed. I’m a lucky one."
Residents, most of whom evacuated inland during the storm, helped each other clear debris or collect belongings — high school trophies, photos, records, china. They frequently stopped to hug amid tears. Six-foot-high watermarks stained walls still standing, marking the extent of the storm surge.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis toured the area with his wife, Casey, and federal emergency officials.
“I’ve seen a lot of really heartbreaking damage,” he said, noting a church that had been swamped by more than 4 feet of water.
Tammy Bryan, a member of the severely damaged First Baptist Church, said Horseshoe Beach residents consider themselves a family, one largely anchored by the church.
“It’s a breath of fresh air here,” Bryan said. “It’s beautiful sunsets, beautiful sunrises. We have all of old Florida right here. And today we feel like it’s been taken away.”
Florida officials said there was one hurricane-related death in the Gainesville area, but didn’t release any details. One Georgia resident was killed when a tree fell on him as he tried to clear another tree from a road.
But unlike previous storms, Idalia didn’t wreak havoc on major urban centers. It provided only glancing blows to Tampa Bay and other more populated areas, DeSantis noted. In contrast, Hurricane Ian last year hit the heavily populated Fort Myers area, leaving 149 dead in the state.
President Joe Biden spoke to DeSantis and promised whatever federal aid is available. Biden also announced that he will go to Florida on Saturday to see the damage himself.
The president used a news conference at the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s headquarters to send a message to Congress, especially those lawmakers who are balking at his request for $12 billion in emergency funding to respond to natural disasters.
“We need this disaster relief request met and we need it in September” after Congress returns from recess, said Biden, who had pizza delivered to FEMA employees who have been working around the clock on Idalia and the devastating wildfires on Maui, Hawaii.
