Idalia weakens to a still-powerful tropical storm as it descends on Georgia and South Carolina
Idalia was a Category 3 hurricane when it hit Florida early Wednesday
Hurricane Idalia tore into Florida at the speed of a fast-moving train Wednesday morning, splitting trees in half, ripping roofs off hotels and turning small cars into boats before sweeping into Georgia and South Carolina as a still-powerful storm that flooded roadways and sent residents running for higher ground.
"All hell broke loose," said Belond Thomas of Perry, a mill town located just inland from the Big Bend region where Idalia came ashore.
Thomas fled with her family and some friends to a motel, thinking it would be safer than riding out the storm at home. But as Idalia's eye passed over about 8:30 a.m., a loud whistling noise pierced the air and the high winds ripped the building's roof off, sending debris down on her pregnant daughter, who was lying in bed. Fortunately, she was not injured.
"It was frightening," Thomas said. "Things were just going so fast. ... Everything was spinning."
The system remained a hurricane as it crossed into Georgia with top winds of 150 km/h. It weakened to a tropical storm by late Wednesday afternoon, and its winds had dropped to 100 km/h by Wednesday evening.
Tornado spawned in S.C.
Idalia roared ashore early Wednesday with 200 km/h winds, unleashing devastation along a wide stretch of the Gulf Coast, submerging homes and vehicles, turning streets into rivers, unmooring small boats and downing power lines before sweeping into Georgia.
Almost 438,000 customers in Florida and Georgia lost power while rushing water covered streets near the coast.
As the eye moved inland, high winds shredded signs, sent sheet metal flying and snapped tall trees.
One person was killed in Georgia. There were no confirmed storm deaths in Florida, but the Florida Highway Patrol reported two people dying in separate weather-related crashes just hours before Idalia made landfall.
The storm was bringing strong winds to Savannah, Ga., Wednesday evening as it made its way toward the Carolinas. It was forecast to pass over Charleston, S.C., early Thursday morning before turning east and heading out to the Atlantic Ocean.
Idalia spawned a tornado that briefly touched down in the Charleston suburb of Goose Creek, the National Weather Service said. The winds sent a car flying and flipped it over, according to authorities and eyewitness video. Two people received minor injuries.
Along South Carolina's coast, North Myrtle Beach, Garden City, and Edisto Island all reported ocean water flowing over sand dunes and spilling onto beachfront streets Wednesday evening. In Charleston, water flowed onto oceanfront streets as the tide, enhanced by a rare supermoon, continued to rise.
More remote areas hardest hit
Florida had feared the worst while still recovering from last year's Hurricane Ian, which hit the heavily populated Fort Myers area, leaving 149 dead in the state.
Unlike that storm, Idalia blew into a very lightly inhabited area known as Florida's "nature coast," one of the state's most rural regions that lies far from crowded metropolises or busy tourist areas and features millions of acres of undeveloped land.
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 five-mile [eight-kilometre] road, so it's going to take some time," Guthrie said. On the island of Cedar Key, downed trees and debris blocked roads, and propane tanks exploded.
State officials, 5,500 National Guard troops and rescue crews were in search-and-recovery mode, inspecting bridges, clearing toppled trees and looking for anyone in distress
Forecasters said Idalia would punish the Carolinas overnight as a tropical storm. Some models predicted Idalia could circle southward toward land again after that, but the National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecast it to move deeper into the Atlantic this weekend.
At 8 p.m. ET Wednesday, tropical storm Idalia was about 95 kilometres west of Charleston, the NHC said. It was moving northeast at 33 km/h.
About 30 kilometres south of where Idalia made landfall, businesses, docks and homes in Steinhatchee, Fla., were swallowed up by water surging in from Deadman's Bay. Police officers blocked traffic into the coastal community of more than 500 residents known for fishing and foresting industries.
In the town of Perry, the wind blew out store windows, tore siding off buildings and overturned a gas station canopy.
At a news conference there later Wednesday, DeSantis addressed reports of looting in Steinhatchee, warning that anyone who tried could be shot.
"This part of Florida, you've got a lot of advocates and some proponents of the Second Amendment," he said. "If you go break into somebody's house and you're trying to loot, these are people that are going to be able to defend themselves and their families, so I would not do it."
Interstate 275 in Tampa was partially flooded, and toppled power lines closed northbound Interstate 75 just south of Valdosta, Ga.
About 320 kilometres to the south of where Idalia made landfall, the roads around the chic shops and restaurants of St. Armands Circle in the Sarasota area were underwater.
Astounded by the flooding that turned Tampa's Bayshore Boulevard into a river, Bill Hall watched a paddleboarder ride along the major thoroughfare. "This is actually unbelievable," Hall said. "I haven't seen anything like this in years."
Idalia fed off some of the hottest water on the planet and for a time overnight was a Category 4 hurricane due to its wind speed.
"It's 88, 89 degrees [31 C to 32 C] over where the storm's going to be tracking, so that's effectively rocket fuel for the storm," said Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.
More than 30,000 utility workers were mobilized by Florida officials to make repairs as quickly as possible in the hurricane's wake.
Airports in the region, including Tampa International Airport, planned to restart commercial operations either Wednesday afternoon or Thursday.
Officials in Bermuda warned that Idalia could hit the island early next week as a tropical storm. Bermuda on Wednesday was being lashed by the outer bands of Hurricane Franklin, a Category 2 storm that was on track to pass near the island in the north Atlantic Ocean.
U.S. President Joe Biden called the governors of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina on Wednesday and told them their states had his administration's full support, the White House said.
With files from Reuters