Hurricane Idalia: 170K+ Power Outages In GA As Storm Eyes Carolinas

Heavy rains plagued portions of Georgia and the Carolinas as Hurricane Idalia slammed into the southern United States on Wednesday.

The center of Idalia crossed into Southern Georgia around 11 a.m. as a storm surge warning went into effect for St. Catherine's Sound, Georgia, to South Santee River, South Carolina, according to the National Weather Service.

Meanwhile, a hurricane warning is in effect for Altamaha Sound, Georgia, to Edisto Beach, South Carolina, a tropical storm warning is in effect for Sebastian Inlet, Florida, to Altamaha Sound, Georgia, north of Edisto Beach, South Carolina, to the North Carolina and Virginia border, and Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds, officials said.

A storm surge watch is in effect for Bonita Beach northward to Englewood, including Charlotte Harbor, the mouth of the St. Mary's River to St. Catherine's Sound, Georgia, Beaufort Inlet to Ocracoke Inlet, North Carolina, and the Neuse and Pamlico Rivers in North Carolina.

A hurricane watch is in effect for the mouth of the St. Mary's River to Altamaha Sound and Edisto Beach to South Santee River, South Carolina.

Power Outages Across Georgia And The Carolinas

As of 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, more than 170,000 homes and businesses in Georgia lost power, with the highest percentage of customers seeing outages along the Florida border in Echols, Lowndes, Brooks, Clinch, Berrien, Ware, Pierce, Colquitt, Cook, Charlton, Brantley, Irwin, Coffee, Bacon, and Thomas counties, according to outage tracking site PowerOutage.US. In some of those counties, like Echols, Clinch, Brooks and Lowndes, nearly all customers tracked were without power.

Around the same time, North Carolina was seeing the highest percentages of customers without power in Yadkin, Surry, Wilkes, and Jackson counties, logging between around 650 and 7,000 customers without power.

South Carolina had relatively few outages Wednesday afternoon.