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Hurricane Idalia makes landfall on Florida's west coast as dangerous Category 3 storm

Published:Wednesday | August 30, 2023 | 8:24 AM
This photo provided by FDOT shows flooded interstate 275 Over Tampa Bay, Florida, on Wednesday, August 30, 2023. Hurricane Idalia steamed toward Florida’s Big Bend region Wednesday morning, threatening deadly storm surges and destructive winds in an area not accustomed to such pummelling. (FDOT via AP)

CEDAR KEY, Florida (AP) — Hurricane Idalia made landfall on Florida's west coast as a catastrophic Category three storm on Wednesday and unleashed life-threatening storm surges and rainfall across an area that has never before received such pummelling.

More than 230,000 customers were without electricity as trees snapped by strong winds brought down power lines and rushing water covered streets. Along the coast, some homes were submerged to near their rooftops and structures crumpled. As the eye moved inland, destructive winds shredded signs and sent sheet metal flying.

"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 (2 meters), submerging most of the downtown.

Idalia went ashore in the lightly populated Big Bend region, where the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula. It made landfall near Keaton Beach at 7:45 a.M. As a high-end category three hurricane with maximum sustained winds near 125 mph (205 kph). More than an hour later, it remained a category two hurricane with top winds of 110 mph (175 mph), and it was expected to remain a hurricane while crossing Florida and Georgia before punishing the Carolinas as a tropical storm.

The hurricane turned streets into rivers in Tampa and swamped the Florida Capital, where power went out well before the centre of the storm arrived. Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey urged everyone to shelter in place — it was too late to risk going outside. Florida residents living in vulnerable coastal areas had been ordered to pack up and leave as Idalia gained strength in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

"Don't put your life at risk by doing anything dumb at this point," Governor Ron DeSantis said at a news conference Wednesday morning. "This thing's powerful. If you're inside, just hunker down until it gets past you."

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