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‘It was frightening’: Idalia…

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‘It was frightening’: Idalia strikes Florida’s Big Bend region, likely to remain tropical storm Thursday

Damaged homes after Hurricane Idalia passed in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Wednesday. Idalia, brought destructive winds and life-threatening storm surges before moving inland. Communities as far as North Carolina were threatened. (Emily Kask/The New York Times)
Damaged homes after Hurricane Idalia passed in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Wednesday. Idalia, brought destructive winds and life-threatening storm surges before moving inland. Communities as far as North Carolina were threatened. (Emily Kask/The New York Times)
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By | bkearney@sunsentinel.com | South Florida Sun Sentinel, | rwebb@sunsentinel.com | South Florida Sun Sentinel, | adimichele@sunsentinel.com | South Florida Sun Sentinel and | vballard@sunsentinel.com | South Florida Sun Sentinel
UPDATED:

Hurricane Idalia barreled into Florida’s Big Bend region on Wednesday, bringing devastating storm surge and submerging some homes near their rooftops. As streets flooded, the high winds shredded signs, toppled trees and sent sheet metal flying.

The storm left a wake of destruction from the Gulf inland as it made its way through Florida and into Georgia. The hurricane rapidly intensified into a major Category 4 storm before dropping back to a Category 3 early Wednesday.

Idalia made landfall as Category 3, with maximum sustained winds near 125 mph, about 7:45 a.m. near Keaton Beach, at the corner of Florida’s Big Bend region, striking one of the least populated areas of the state, known as the “nature coast.”

One of the hardest-hit communities was Perry, a small town that sits in the middle of the Big Bend region of the Gulf coast. “It was frightening,” Belond Thomas, of Perry, told The Associated Press. “Things were just going so fast. … Everything was spinning.”

Thomas fled with her family and some friends to a motel. But as Idalia’s eye passed over about 8:30 a.m., the high winds ripped the building’s roof off, sending debris down on her pregnant daughter, who was lying in bed. She was not injured.

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.

The Florida Highway Patrol reported two deaths that had happened as the storm approached landfall, but Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said it has not been determined yet whether those deaths in two counties would be deemed storm-related.

Idalia was downgraded to a tropical storm late Wednesday afternoon. By early Thursday, Idalia was a fast-moving tropical storm lashing eastern North Carolina with heavy rain and winds. Its top winds were at 60 mph as of 8 a.m. Thursday as it moved east-northeast at 17 mph.

Parts of North Carolina were under a tropical storm warning and a storm surge watch.

Idalia was expected to head near or along South Carolina’s coast overnight and be offshore of North Carolina on Thursday before making its way east into the western Atlantic throughout the weekend.

Storm surge was still expected along the southeastern U.S. coast through Wednesday night and in North Carolina on Thursday, when Idalia still will likely be at tropical-storm strength.

Late Wednesday, North Myrtle Beach, Garden City, Charleston and Edisto Island all reported ocean water topping sand dunes or walls and into beachfront streets. The tide continued to rise in Charleston harbor.

Idalia also spawned a tornado that touched down briefly in the Charleston suburb of Goose Creek, the National Weather Service said.

Idalia had remained a hurricane as it crossed into Georgia, with top winds of 90 mph at 11 a.m., after drenching Florida mostly to the east of Tallahassee.

WATCH: Hurricane Idalia live webcams from Florida’s west coast

As of Wednesday afternoon, DeSantis said that 262,000 homes had had electricity restored, and another 250,000 were without power along the path of the storm.

At a news conference, Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said that the most punishing impact so far has been in the town of Perry. “Right now, we know we have a couple businesses that have caught on fire. A few that had roofs knocked off of them, potentially one collapse.”

After that news conference, DeSantis and others apparently attempted to head to the nearby town of Steinhatchee, on the coast, but the roads were impassable. He said there were reports of looting there, and that the town got “an awful lot of water,” but there were no reports, as of yet, of any fatalities.

Cedar Key was on the “dirty” right hand side of the storm, where impacts tend to be more severe. A National Ocean Service tide gauge there showed a surge nearly 9 feet higher than the predicted tidal level. “We have multiple trees down, debris in the roads, do not come,” posted the fire and rescue department in Cedar Key. “We have propane tanks blowing up all over the island.”

Farther south, in more populated areas hit by storm surge, county officials in Citrus County said they used airboats and large trucks to rescue about 60 people. There were 3,300 without power. The city of St. Petersburg said 75 people were rescued.

Several hours after landfall, Idalia did not seem to be as deadly as last year’s Hurricane Ian, which hit the Fort Myers area and left 149 dead in the state.

“With Hurricane Ian, within an hour after it hitting, there were frantic phone calls to 911 locally there, of people that were literally drowning in their house,” DeSantis said. “The feeling of dread that those calls represented, you knew there were going to be a lot of problems. We have not seen that in the same way on this storm. I think a lot of people really heeded the warnings.”

NOAA's tide gauge at Cedar Key shows storm surge starting at around 3:30 in the morning, and peaking at 8:30 in the morning, coinciding with low tide. (NOAA)
NOAA’s tide gauge at Cedar Key shows storm surge starting at around 3:30 in the morning, and peaking at 8:30 in the morning, coinciding with low tide. (NOAA)

 

MAP: Power outages across Florida caused by Hurricane Idalia

The Florida Highway Patrol released details about the two deaths that happened as the storm approached landfall. A man died about 6 a.m. in Gainesville while driving in “extremely rainy conditions,” according to the Highway Patrol.  His pickup veered into a ditch and hit a tree.

He was declared dead at the scene by Alachua County Fire Rescue responders. The second man died in Paco County when he lost control of his vehicle at 6:15 a.m. while traveling too fast for the conditions, according to the Highway Patrol. He collided with a tree.

A man in Georgia died Wednesday after a tree fell on him while he was clearing a blocked road, The Associated Press reported.

An ‘unprecedented’ path

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.

“Looking back through recorded history, NO major hurricanes have ever moved through the Apalachee Bay,” the National Weather Service Tallahassee said. “When you try to compare this storm to others, DON’T. No one has seen this.”

Before the storm hit, DeSantis had expanded the state of emergency to include 49 counties in Florida.

Samantha Park and her fiancé, Peter, of Tampa, were among many of the new Florida residents who experienced their first hurricane threat.

As the storm was brewing in the Gulf, the couple relocated to a hotel in downtown Orlando on Monday afternoon with their two cats, Rory and Meeko.

“If there was any kind of mass exodus, we figured we’d try to beat it,” Park, 28, said.

Weather in Orlando was mild, Park said, which the couple was grateful for because she’d been afraid that perhaps the storm could have followed them to Orlando. “What’s the right answer? You really don’t know. You’re kind of just throwing a dart and hoping that the storm doesn’t come in your direction,” she said.

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A damaged gas station along U.S. Route 19 after Hurricane Idalia passed in Perry, Fla., Aug. 30, 2023. Idalia, now a Category 1 storm, brought destructive winds and life-threatening storm surges before moving inland. Communities as far as North Carolina were threatened. (Emily Kask/The New York Times)

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Florida’s west coast could still see another 1 to 2 inches of rain Thursday from bands following behind Idalia, the hurricane center said Wednesday night.

Guthrie warned at the Wednesday afternoon press conference that rivers affected by the storm could take 24, 48 or even 72 hours to reach peak flood stage.

Idalia has been downgraded to a tropical storm. (NHC)
Idalia has been downgraded to a tropical storm. (NHC)

The National Hurricane Center forecast for the season predicted two to five major hurricanes for the 2023 Atlantic season.

As of Aug. 31, there have been three hurricanes — Don, Franklin and Idalia, the latter two of which were major hurricanes.

Tropical Storm Jose formed early Thursday in the central Atlantic near Bermuda from what was Tropical Depression 11. Jose is expected to stick around a few days before being absorbed by what is currently Hurricane Franklin, according to the latest from the National Hurricane Center.

The next named storm to form would be Katia (KAH-tyah).

Franklin was maintaining as a Category 2 hurricane early Thursday with top winds of 100 mph. As of 5 a.m., it was about 200 miles north-northeast of Bermuda. The hurricane is forecast to slowly weaken and dissipate this week.

A tropical wave in the far eastern Atlantic off Africa is likely to become a tropical depression later this week as it moves west-northwest, the National Hurricane Center said. As of 8 a.m. Thursday, its odds of developing were at 70% in the next two to seven days.

Finally, the remnants of Tropical Storm Gert drifted several hundred miles north of the Leeward Islands. Its chances of regenerating were low, 30% in the next two to seven days.

The National Hurricane Center has been predicting an “above-normal” 2023 hurricane season as a result of ongoing record-breaking sea surface temperatures that continue to fight off the tempering effects of El Niño.

While sea surface temperatures have remained hot for longer than anticipated, El Niño’s effects, which typically reduce hurricane chances, have emerged more slowly.

The National Hurricane Center, which operates under the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, has forecast 14 to 21 named storms, including six to 11 hurricanes, and two to five major hurricanes.

Sun Sentinel staff writer Abigail Hasebroock contributed, and information from The Associated Press was used to supplement this news article. 

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