Hurricane Idalia was downgraded this Wednesday afternoon to a tropical storm, with maximum sustained winds of 70 miles per hour (110 kilometers per hour), while crossing the states of Georgia and the Carolinas, in the United States, and after hit the west coast of Florida as a Category 3 cyclone in the morning.
Idalia became a category 4 hurricane, but made landfall this Wednesday at 7:45 a.m. near Keaton Beach, Florida, becoming a category 3 hurricane and with winds of up to 205 kilometers per hour, according to the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC).
It is the most powerful cyclone to hit the Florida region in the last 125 years. known as Big Bend, after an unnamed cyclone made landfall there in 1896 with that same strength.
More than 250,000 homes without electricity
In his passage through this state, The natural phenomenon caused historic floods on Wednesday, closed roads and left houses torn apart. In addition, according to the state governor, Ron De-Santis, there were more than 250,000 homes without electricity.
The cyclone generated a rapid rise in the water level in some locations on the west coast of Florida. Beach boulevards and piers in many coastal towns, especially in Florida’s Big Bend, have been engulfed by the sea, with sailboats tossed inland and debris accumulating from strong winds and storm surge.
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On Cedar Key, north of Tampa Bay, the storm surge raised the sea up to 8 feet (2.4 meters) above its normal level, a record higher than the record in this part that produced the passage of Hurricane Hermine in 2016.
In other parts of the state, like Perry, the cyclone left extensive flooding and uprooted trees and power lines in its path. While residents had to evacuate and move with their belongings on their backs, including kayaks.
“We were born and raised in Florida, so storms don’t scare us,” said Bobby Adisano, a Floridian who spent the night in his car with his wife and one-year-old son.
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Some of the affected areas had never been hit by a major hurricane.
At the moment there are two fatalities that indirectly left the powerful cyclonetwo people who died in traffic accidents while driving in the midst of “extreme” weather conditions, as reported by the Highway Patrol (FHP), although Governor DeSantis said Wednesday that “there are no confirmed deaths.”
Despite the flooding, and the fact that the full damage has yet to be calculated, the authorities believe that the worst was avoided. “We have been forgiven and blessed,” Levy County Sheriff Robert McCallum said.
Some of the affected areas “had never been hit by a major hurricane,” Governor DeSantis explained. While Deanne Criswell, head of the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), stated that “Idalia is the most powerful storm to make landfall in this part of Florida in more than 100 years.”
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Despite having lost intensity after touching land, Idalia was this Wednesday a tropical storm not without danger as it passed through the southeastern United States, generating life-threatening storm surge, damaging winds, tornadoes, and torrential rains.
The southeastern part of the state of Georgia and the eastern Carolinas, where Idalia advanced after passing through Florida, suffered from overflowing rivers and flash flooding from heavy rains.
Georgia Governor Brian P. Kemp reported that about 61,000 subscribers in the southeastern part of the state were without power due to the “strong impact to the south of heavy rains and winds.”
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Now, according to the NCH forecast, the center of Idalia will be located this Thursday off the coast of North Carolina, to reach the western waters of the Atlantic over the weekend.
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, called on Wednesday the governor of Florida, as well as those of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, Brian Kemp, Henry McMaster and Roy Cooper, respectively, to reiterate the support of the administration federal in recovery efforts.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With AFP and EFE
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