Hurricane season

Hurricane Idalia slams Florida, unleashes heavy flooding and widespread power outages

Over 200,000 customers were without power early Wednesday in the state, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide

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Hurricane Idalia slammed Florida’s Nature Coast, bringing heavy flooding and damage. NBC6’s Jamie Guirola reports from Cedar Key.

Hurricane Idalia was bringing flooding to the streets of Florida from Tampa to Tallahassee, a stretch of more than 200 miles, after making landfall on the state's west coast early Wednesday.

Idalia came ashore in the lightly populated Big Bend region, where the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula, as a dangerous Category 3 hurricane.

Cellphone video shows the intensity of the winds that the eye of Hurricane Idalia is producing.

The hurricane unleashed devastation along a wide stretch of the Gulf Coast, submerging homes and vehicles, turning streets into rivers, unmooring small boats and downing power lines.

State officials, 5,500 National Guardsman and rescue crews were in search-and-recovery mode, inspecting bridges, clearing toppled trees and looking for anyone in distress in one of Florida's most rural regions.

Hurricane Idalia slammed Florida's Nature Coast, bringing heavy flooding and damage. NBC6's Jamie Guirola reports from Cedar Key.

Because of the remoteness, search teams may need more time to complete their work compared with past hurricanes in more urban areas, said Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Department of Emergency Management.

“You may have two houses on a 5-mile road so it’s going to take some time,” Guthrie said.

Residents in vulnerable coastal areas had been ordered to pack up and leave as Idalia gained strength. Mayor John Dailey of Tallahassee, Florida's capital, urged everyone to stay put Wednesday because it's too late to risk going outside.

"The time to evacuate has come and gone," Dailey said on NBC’s "Today" show. "It is time to shelter in place."

Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis shared a photo on X of an oak tree on the grounds of the governor's mansion in Tallahassee that was apparently split during the storm.

Cedar Key, not far from where Idalia made landfall in Keaton Beach, was inundated with storm surge.

“We have multiple trees down, debris in the roads, do not come,” posted the fire and rescue department in Cedar Key, where a tide gauge measured the storm surge at 6.8 feet, submerging most of the downtown. “We have propane tanks blowing up all over the island.”

Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / AFP via Getty Images
Cars attempt to drive on a flooded road in Tampa, Florida, Aug. 30, 2023, after Hurricane Idalia made landfall.
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Makatla Ritchter evacuates her home through floodwaters caused by storm surge from Hurricane Idalia on Aug. 30, 2023, in Tarpon Springs, Florida.
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Residents walk through floodwaters from Hurricane Idalia in Gulfport, Florida, Aug. 30, 2023.
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Flood waters inundate downtown after Hurricane Idalia passed offshore, Aug. 30, 2023, in Tarpon Springs, Florida. The storm made landfall as a category 3 storm.
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A truck passes through flooded streets caused by Hurricane Idalia passing offshore on Aug. 30, 2023, in Tarpon Springs, Florida.
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A woman walks through flooded water along Bayshore Blvd caused by storm surge from Hurricane Idalia, Aug. 30, 2023, in Tampa, Florida. Idalia made landfall earlier this morning along the Big Bend of the state.
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Police man a roadblock to keep cars from driving through flood waters on Aug. 30, 2023, in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Hurricane Idalia slammed into Florida’s West Coast as a category 3 storm early Wednesday morning.
Kegan Ward
Storm surges flood Cedar Keys, Florida, after Hurricane Idalia made landfall in the Big Bend area, Aug. 30, 2023.
Kegan Ward
Floodwater and debris from Hurricane Idalia cover parts of Cedar Key, Florida, after the storm made landfall as a category 3 hurricane, Aug. 30, 2023.
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A person rides a kayak through flooded streets as Hurricane Idalia passes offshore, Aug. 30, 2023 in Tarpon Springs, Florida.
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A flooded street from Hurricane Idalia in Gulfport, Florida, Aug. 30, 2023. Hurricane Idalia has knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of customers, grounded more than 800 flights and unleashed floods along Florida’s coast far from where it came ashore as a Category 3 storm earlier today.
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A flooded street is seen near the Steinhatchee marina in Steinhatchee, Florida, Aug. 30, 2023, after Hurricane Idalia made landfall.
Chris O'Meara/AP
Members of the Tampa Fire Rescue Dept., remove a street pole after large awnings from an apartment building blew off from Hurricane Idalia, Aug. 30, 2023, in Tampa, Florida. Idalia made landfall earlier this morning along the Big Bend of the state.
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Makatla Ritchter, left, and her mother, Keiphra Line wade through flood waters after evacuating their home, Aug. 30, 2023, in Tarpon Springs, Florida.
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People try to free a car stuck on the shoulder amid storm debris as Hurricane Idalia crosses the state, Aug. 30, 2023, near Mayo, Florida. The storm made landfall at Keaton Beach, Florida as category 3 hurricane.
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A resident rides a bicycle through floodwaters from Hurricane Idalia in Gulfport, Florida, Aug. 30, 2023.
Chris O'Meara/AP
Flood waters pour over the sea wall along Old Tampa Bay as paddle boarder Zeke Pierce, of Tampa, rides alongside it, Aug. 30, 2023, in Tampa, Florida. Hurricane Idalia swamped coastlines from Tampa to Tallahassee as it made landfall in the Big Bend region Wednesday morning.
Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / AFP via Getty Images
Residents use kayaks to travel on a flooded road in Tampa, Florida, Aug. 30, 2023, after Hurricane Idalia made landfall.
Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / AFP via Getty Images
A car drives through a flooded street in Tampa, Florida, Aug. 30, 2023, after Hurricane Idalia made landfall.
Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / AFP via Getty Images
A car drives through a flooded street in Tampa, Florida, Aug. 30, 2023, after Hurricane Idalia made landfall.
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A City of Tallahassee electrical worker assesses damage to power lines after a tree fell on Old St. Augustine, a canopy road, in Tallahassee, Florida.
Chris O'Meara/AP
A man runs across a flooded Bayshore Blvd., from the storm surge brought on by Hurricane Idalia, Aug. 30, 2023, in Tampa, Florida.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Reporters wade through flood waters as it inundates the downtown area after Hurricane Idalia passed offshore on Aug. 30, 2023, in Tarpon Springs, Florida.
Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / AFP via Getty Images
A street in Tampa, Florida, is flooded with storm surges caused by Hurricane Idalia, Aug. 30, 2023.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Cars sit in a flooded street caused by storm surges from Hurricane Idalia, Aug. 30, 2023, in St. Petersburg, Florida.

RJ Wright stayed behind on Cedar Key so he could check on elderly neighbors. He hunkered down with friends in a motel and when it was safe, walked outside into chest-high water. It could have been a lot worse for the island, which juts into the Gulf, since it didn’t take a direct hit, he said.

“It got pretty gnarly for a while, but it was nothing compared to some of the other storms,” Wright said.

In the town of Perry, the wind blew out store windows, tore siding off buildings and overturned a gas station canopy.

Heavy flooding shows the damage that Hurricane Idalia has left on the small coastal town in Florida.

In Clearwater, in the Tampa Bay area's Pinellas County, the city was asking those who remained despite a mandatory evacuation order to restrict their water and toilet usage because the stormwater system is strained.

Some counties implemented curfews to keep residents off roads.

“For those who have chosen to remain on the beaches despite the mandatory evacuation order, please restrict your water and toilet usage,” the city of Clearwater posted. “Due to flooding, the city’s lift stations and stormwater system are under strain.”

Hurricane Idalia hit Florida early Wednesday as a major Category 3 storm.

County officials said flooding had been reported on roads throughout coastal areas. The county sheriff’s office closed access to barrier islands, and much of Gulf Boulevard, along the barrier islands, is closed because of significant flooding.

St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch said parts of the city were hit with about 4 feet of storm surge, with more water expected at high tide Wednesday afternoon.

Welch said there remained a risk from tornadoes and live downed power lines.

Three major bridges, including the Sunshine Skyway across the mouth of Tampa Bay, remained closed.

“Make no mistake, this hurricane left its mark. The reality is we are not done dealing with the consequences of this major storm,” Welch said.

Idalia was also knocking out power in Florida after making landfall. Over 200,000 customers were without power Wednesday in the state, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide.

The vast majority of outages were in the state’s Big Bend region, but outages were expected to grow throughout the day in Florida, as well as Georgia and South Carolina.

At a news conference early Wednesday afternoon, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said there no confirmed fatalities related to the storm in the state, although fatal traffic accidents in two counties may end up being storm-related.

A falling tree killed a Georgia man clearing a blocked roadway Wednesday as Idalida tore through the Valdosta, Georgia, area, according to Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk.

“The guy was out working on cleaning up a tree in the road, just a local citizen doing good things,” Paulk told The Associated Press. “A big gust of wind came up and dropped another tree, killed him instantly.”

A second person was seriously injured by the same tree and a sheriff’s deputy suffered minor injuries, Paulk said.

In an aerial view, a fire is seen as flood waters inundate the downtown area after Hurricane Idalia passed offshore on August 30, 2023 in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Hurricane Idalia is hitting the Big Bend area of Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The National Weather Service in Tallahassee called Idalia "an unprecedented event" since no major hurricanes on record have ever passed through the bay abutting the Big Bend.

DeSantis had warned people in the path of Hurricane Idalia to “just hunker down until it gets past you.”

The National Hurricane Center in Miami had been expecting storm surge to reach up to 16 feet in some areas of the Big Bend region. Northeast Florida already had 11 tornado warnings and there were more possible.

Video from the city shows the impact the category 3 hurricane has unleashed on cities across the Florida peninsula.

The U.S. Coast Guard was on standby and had pre-positioned 15 aircraft and more than 25 cutters and 20 flood response teams that were prepared to respond in the wake of the storm, Rear Admiral Douglas Schofield said. Crews flew over the western Florida area up to the Big Bend area and made call-outs to mariners to seek shelter. They were ready to launch aircraft for urgent maritime search and rescue in the Tampa and Big Bend areas as the storm passes, he said.

Several pieces of debris are seen floating around in the heavy storm surge.
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