PERRY, Fla. (AP)-- Tropical Storm Idalia descended on the Carolinas on its way out to the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday, leaving a path of flooding and destruction throughout the Southeast that extended back to its landfall as a cyclone in Florida.
Rescue and repair work efforts continued in the locations the storm passed Wednesday and there was no immediate word on the toll from the relentless winds and inundating waters, but authorities counted a minimum of one death.
The storm left as many as a half-million clients without power in Florida and other states at one point as it ripped down power poles and lines. Still, it was far less harmful than feared, offering just glancing blows to
Tampa Bay and other more inhabited locations as it came ashore with 125 mph (201 kph) winds in rural Florida.
The weakening storm still loaded winds of as much as 60 mph (96 kph) as it blasted through Georgia and South Carolina on Wednesday night. It was expected to reach the North Carolina coast Thursday and roll off into the ocean through the weekend.
NE Ohio natives ride out Hurricane Idalia
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who declared a statewide emergency previously today as Idalia approached, had alerted residents in coastal and eastern inland counties to get ready for heavy rainfall and localized flooding and prompted them to stay off roadways covered by water.
In South Carolina, the storm paired with king tides sent out seawater streaming over sand dunes and spilling onto beachfront streets. In Charleston, a surge from Idalia topped the seawall that safeguards the downtown, sending out ankle-deep ocean water into the neighborhoods and streets where horse-drawn carriages pass million-dollar houses and the well-known outdoor market.
Initial information showed the Wednesday night high tide reached simply over 9.2 feet (2.8 meters), more than 3 feet (0.9 meters) above typical and the fifth-highest reading in Charleston Harbor because records were first kept in 1899.
Bands from Idalia likewise brought temporary twisters. One flipped a cars and truck in rural Goose Creek, South Carolina, triggering minor injuries, authorities said. No major damage was reported.
Oak tree falls on DeSantis' mansion in wake of Idalia
After traveling across the Gulf of Mexico, Idalia came ashore Wednesday early morning near Keaton Beach, mauling Florida's remote and lightly populated Big Bend region with effective winds.
The location, where the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula, saw streets turned into rivers that submerged vehicles and houses, while the howling winds tore off roofs, snapped high trees, sent out sheet metal flying, and shredded houses.
" All hell broke out," stated Belond Thomas of Perry, a mill town situated just inland from the Big Bend area. Thomas ran away with her household and some friends to a motel, thinking it would be much safer than riding out the storm in your home but the roofing system was torn away and particles showered onto her pregnant daughter, who fortunately wasn't injured, Thomas stated.
No hurricane-related deaths were formally verified in Florida, but the state's highway patrol reported two individuals killed in separate weather-related crashes simply hours before Idalia made landfall.
Even so, Idalia seemed far less harmful than very first feared. It prevented large urban areas, striking just glancing blows to
Tampa Bay and other more inhabited locations while focusing its fury on the rural Big Bend area.
Nevertheless, the damage there was most likely to be extensive.
At Horseshoe Beach in main Big Bend, Jewell Baggett picked through the wreckage and debris of her mom's destroyed house, discovering a few images and her mother's pots and pans.
Her grandpa constructed the house decades ago and it had actually endured four previous storms, she stated.
" And now it's gone," she stated. "Nothing left. A couple of little trinkets occasionally."
Baggett, whose mom had left prior to the storm hit, stated at least five or six other homes likewise were ruined.
In
Tallahassee, the power headed out well before the center of the storm arrived, but the city avoided a direct hit. A huge oak tree next to the guv's mansion split in half, covering the yard with debris.
State officials, 5,500 National Guardsmen, and rescue teams went into search-and-recovery mode, inspecting bridges, clearing fallen trees, and trying to find anybody in distress. More than 30,000 utility workers collected to fix downed power lines and poles.
Idalia had weakened to a tropical storm by late Wednesday afternoon but it still packed a punch as it advanced into Georgia, where a man in Valdosta passed away when a tree fell on him as he attempted to clear another tree out of the road, Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk stated.
2 others, including a constable's deputy, were harmed, he stated.
Officials in Bermuda warned that Idalia might strike the island early next week as a tropical storm. Bermuda on Wednesday was being lashed by the external bands of Hurricane Franklin, a Category 2 storm that was on track to pass near the island in the north Atlantic Ocean.
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 complete assistance, the White House said.
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