Aug. 30 (UPI) — At least two people have died in weather-related accidents in Florida as Hurricane Idalia battered the state Wednesday, officials said.
An unidentified man from Gainesville was driving his Toyota pickup truck around 6 a.m. when he swerved and veered into a ditch, according to a crash report obtained by CNN. He was 59.
The second incident, which occurred about 15 minutes later, involved a 40-year-old man from Spring Hill who was driving a pickup truck down St. Joe Road in Pasco County at a speed “too fast for conditions.”
He reportedly “lost control,” according to the highway patrol.
Hurricane Idalia blew into Florida’s Big Bend region Wednesday morning as a powerful Category 3 storm, with the higher populated areas of Tallahassee and Tampa missing the worst of it.
Still, Casey DeSantis, the wife of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, said in a statement that a 100-year-old oak tree fell onto the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee while she and their three children were home.
“A difference of 35 to 40 miles made all the difference between hurricane-force winds and significant damage in Leon County and what we’re experiencing today,” Kelly Godsey, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told the Tallahassee Democrat.
“And so we were that close. Unfortunately, that made it much worse for our neighbors to the east.”
Tallahassee experienced widespread power outages Wednesday morning and utility crews now are working to restore power. By Wednesday afternoon, 275,407 customers remained without power, according to the tracker Poweroutage.us.
North of the Sunshine State, Georgia is now bracing for the worst of the storm, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Widespread wind damage could particularly affect the area around Valdosta and Moody Air Force Base.
More than 61,000 people in the Peach State remained without power Wednesday as high winds, reaching sustained speeds of 85 mph, toppled trees and downed power lines.
Also, parts of the major I-75 interstate highway were closed due to downed power lines, further complicating travel in parts of the state.
The storm is expected to weaken into a Category 1 hurricane when it reaches the city of Savannah around Wednesday night.
North of Georgia, emergency officials in South Carolina now are warning residents to remain indoors for the next 24 hours, NBC News reported.
“We’re about to start receiving tropical storm force winds within the county,” Joe Coates, the Charleston County emergency management director, told NBC News.
The storm surge is expected to mix with the seasonal and already high “King Tides” to cause tides to rise to 8.3 feet, Coates said.
The eye of Idalia crossed Keaton Beach, Fla. just before 8 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, bringing with it winds and rain not seen in the area for at least a decade.
The storm reached Category 4 status with winds up to 131 mph before hitting land, but weakened slightly to land officially as a Category 3.
Even with that, Idalia pummeled that area and a large swath of Florida’s west coast with torrential rain, flooding and widespread power outages.
In a news conference, DeSantis had said forecasters were predicting that the storm surge would reach about 16 feet in affected areas. He urged residents to take extra precautions.
Meteorologists said Idalia’s powerful storm surge could extend some 200 miles along Florida’s west coast, well beyond the eye of the storm.
“Do not go outside in the midst of this storm,” DeSantis warned.
“If it’s calm where you are, maybe because you’re in the eye of this storm. Those conditions will change very, very quickly. Wherever you are, hunker down and don’t take anything for granted.”
DeSantis, who saw his power lost briefly during his news conference in Tallahassee, said the meteorologists had issued 11 tornado warnings and those will likely continue throughout the day connected with the outer bands of the storm.
“As the storm passes, do not drive through flooded streets, and assume that all downed power lines are still hot and live,” the governor said. “We have a lot of people trying to remedy that, but that is very hazardous in the immediate aftermath of the storm.”
Storm surge spilled Tampa Bay into the region’s most populous areas of Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater, flooding streets and spurring rescues performed by emergency crews even before Idalia made landfall.
Forecasters predicted the Tampa Bay area to receive 3 to 5 inches of rain.
Idalia was connected to flight cancelations and delays around the country with 790 flights into, or out of the United States canceled and 523 delayed.
