Hurricane Idalia
Before moving into Georgia and South Carolina as a still-potent storm that flooded roads and forced residents to seek higher ground, Hurricane Idalia tore into Florida on Wednesday at the speed of a fast-moving train, splitting trees in half, ripping off hotel roofs, and turning small cars into boats.
“All hell broke loose,” declared Belond Thomas of Perry, a mill town close inland from the Big Bend region where Idalia touched ashore.
It came with a whistling sound
Thomas thought it would be safer to flee to a motel with her family and several friends than to wait out the storm at home. However, as Idalia’s eye crossed the area at around 8:30 a.m., a loud whistling sound pierced the air, and the strong winds tore the roof off the structure, dropping pieces of it on her pregnant daughter who was laying in bed. Thankfully, she wasn’t hurt.
Thomas pronounced, “It was terrifying. “Everything was spinning,” I said, “things were just going so fast.”
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High winds of Hurricane Idalia tore up the city
Idalia made landfall as a high-end Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds reaching 125 mph (205 kph) at 7:45 a.m., close to Keaton Beach. As it entered Georgia, the system, which had maximum winds of 90 mph (150 mph), remained a hurricane. By late Wednesday afternoon, it had become a tropical storm, and by Wednesday night, its winds had decreased to 65 mph (100 kph).
High winds tore up signs, ripped off roofs, sent sheet metal flying, and snapped large trees as the eye proceeded inland. In Georgia, one person passed away. The Florida Highway Patrol reported two fatalities in separate weather-related crashes just hours before Idalia made landfall, despite the fact that no hurricane-related fatalities in Florida were officially recorded.
As it moved near the Carolinas on Wednesday evening, the storm was delivering high winds to Savannah, Georgia. Early on Thursday morning, it was expected to pass over Charleston, South Carolina, before turning east and moving toward the Atlantic Ocean.
