Idalia Latest: 117K Outages, 'Significant Damage' In FL After 'All Hell Broke Loose'

TAMPA, FL — A day after Tropical Storm Idalia hit Florida's Big Bend area as a Category 3 hurricane, the storm continued to weaken as it moved north into the Carolinas Thursday, leaving debris and flooding in its path.

The Big Bend area reported "significant damage” after Idalia came ashore in the lightly populated area where the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula. The storm made landfall near Keaton Beach around 7:45 a.m. Wednesday.

As of 1:15 p.m. Thursday, 117,000 customers remain without power, according to poweroutage.us. The most outages were concentrated in the northern part of the state — 23,200 were without power in Suwanee County, followed by 13,700 in Taylor County and 11,400 in Madison County.

President Joe Biden also declared a major disaster in counties including Citrus, Dixie, Hamilton, Lafayette, Levy, Suwannee, and Taylor, the White House said in a statement. The declaration frees up federal funding to residents affected by Idalia.

"We are going to work hard to make sure people get what they need," Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday at a news conference alongside state and Federal Emergency Management Agency officials.

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. Video and photos shared on the City of Cedar Key's Facebook page showed debris littering roads, trees blocking roads and storm surge enveloping roads. Storm surge there reached 8.9 feet, surpassing the 5.99 feet record set in 2016 from Hurricane Hermine, CNN reported.

"We are being ravaged," the city wrote on social media.

Florida Highway 51, a road that winds from Steinhatchee inland toward the town of Live Oak, was a corridor of carnage, the Orlando Sentinel reported. Trees slumped over fallen power lines, while darkened traffic lights hung in flooded intersections.

First responders and residents raced to clear roads, according to the Sentinel.

“We’re going to take care of all our locals for sure,” Jim Hooten of Steinhatchee told the Sentinel. “We’ll be here all night, and tomorrow, we’re going into town to help the poor folks.”

A community hit hard by Idalia was Perry, a mill town located just inland from the Big Bend region. Some businesses caught fire and others lost their roofs, according to a South Florida Sun Sentinel report. Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said Perry appeared to be hardest hit, the Sun Sentinel reported.

In a video obtained by WFLA, a child screamed in fear as a tree fell on a home in Perry.

"Oh, I just heard something crack,” homeowner Olivia Gregg said in the video. “Look, there it goes, there it goes."

Belond Thomas of Perry said "all hell broke loose" when Idalia struck the area. Thomas fled with her family and some friends to a motel, thinking it would be safer than riding out the storm at home but the roof was torn away and debris showered onto her pregnant daughter, who fortunately wasn't injured, Thomas said.

At Horseshoe Beach in central Big Bend, Jewell Baggett picked through the wreckage and debris of her mother's destroyed home, finding a few pictures and her mother's pots and pans.

Her grandfather built the home decades ago and it had survived four previous storms, she said.

"And now it's gone," she said. "Nothing left. A few little trinkets here and there."

• Related: 75 Rescued From Floods, Shore Acres Home Burns: Hurricane Idalia

U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, who represents a South Florida district and used to lead the state's emergency management agency, told CNN that many communities that bore the brunt of Idalia “don’t necessarily have the resources” to handle such a powerful hurricane."

“There are some communities that may never look the same and others that will get rebuilt that will look slightly different,” he told CNN Wednesday night.

Idalia's one confirmed death occurred in Georgia, where a man in Valdosta died when a tree fell on him as he tried to clear another tree out of the road, Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk said.

No hurricane-related deaths were officially confirmed in Florida, but the Florida Highway Patrol reported two people were killed in separate weather-related crashes just hours before Idalia made landfall.

On Thursday, Hernando County authorities also confirmed an elderly couple reported missing Tuesday were found dead in their vehicle in a wooded area in Brooksville. It's unclear if the storm played a role in the crash.

Flooding Persists Thursday

In St. Petersberg, about 60 percent of streets in Shore Acres and Snell Isle were still flooded as of Wednesday night, police said on X, formerly known as Twitter. But police said officers were still allowing residents in elevated vehicles back on the island if they showed proof that they lived in the neighborhood.

All emergency orders in Tampa were lifted Wednesday and all major bridges reopened, including the Howard Frankland Bridge and Sunshine Skyway bridges, which closed early Wednesday due to flooding and high winds, respectively.

As of Wednesday evening, only Bayshore Boulevard from Howard to Swann Avenues remained closed.

The city of Tampa sent drone teams to assess damage and spot downed trees and branches as soon as the sun came up Wednesday, officials said.

"We are happy to say that we have gotten through this hurricane without any major injuries and major property damage," Mayor Jane Castor said in the city's final Idalia news conference Wednesday evening. "Clearly those residents or business owners that may have had their home or their businesses flooded, we'll have to work with them to make sure that they recover, but overall, the damage has been very minimal."

Photos and videos taken by officials show at least several inches of water covering many parts of Tampa Wednesday morning and afternoon. Waterfront roads like Westshore, Bayshore Boulevard and Hillsborough River and structures including docks were almost completely underwater.

State officials, 5,500 National Guardsmen and rescue crews went into search-and-recovery mode, inspecting bridges, clearing toppled trees and looking for anyone in distress. More than 30,000 utility workers gathered to repair downed power lines and poles.

Next, Idalia is expected to continue to gradually weaken as it rolls off into the ocean through the weekend. Swells were expected to affect the southeastern coast, likely causing life-threatening surf and rip current conditions into the Labor Day weekend.

Patch editor Megan VerHelst contributed writing to this report.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.