Powerful waves lash Sanibel Island bridge 11 months after it was partially destroyed
Hurricane Idalia has made landfall in Florida, hitting the Big Bend region as a “life-threatening” Category 3 storm before downgrading to a Category 1 as it now heads across Georgia toward South Carolina.
The National Hurricane Center announced at 7.45am that the “extremely dangerous Category 3” storm had made landfall, bringing maximum sustained winds of 125 mph and catastrophic storm surge to the Sunshine State.
In an early morning press conference, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had warned: “Don’t mess with this storm. Don’t do anything that will put yourself in jeopardy.” The briefing itself was hit with a brief power outage as the storm had already plunged thousands of homes into darkness.
Idalia has already forced mass evacuations in low-lying areas and the state activated 55,000 national guardsmen and 25,000 electric linemen ahead of the hurricane’s arrival.
Some 275,000 customers were without power at lunchtime on Wednesday. Two deaths in separate car crashes were reported by Florida High Patrol. The storm surge reached 15ft in some places, leaving deep water across coastal towns.
A terrifying forecast model has also shown that Hurricane Idalia could hit the state of Florida twice over the coming week.
