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Idalia producing ‘very heavy rain’
Idalia remained a tropical storm late last night and was producing “very heavy rain” in South Carolina, the National Hurricane Center said in an update.
The center of the storm was around 15 miles north-northwest of Charleston at 11 p.m., the agency said. It had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph.
Some storm surge warnings were discontinued, but a storm surge warning remained for a stretch of the South Carolina coast from the Savannah River to the South Santee River, which includes Charleston.
The storm is expected to move offshore sometime today, according to the hurricane center.
Satellite images capture Hurricane Idalia’s flooding in Florida’s Big Bend
Satellite images illustrate the damage in Florida’s Big Bend where Hurricane Idalia made landfall.
The Category 3 storm made landfall near Keaton Beach with sustained wind speeds topping 125 mph just before 8 a.m. yesterday.
Idalia flooded streets, downed power lines, snapped trees, destroyed homes and brought activity to a halt for a time yesterday.
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Florida had feared the worst while still recovering from last year’s Hurricane Ian, which hit the heavily populated Fort Myers area, killing 149 people in the state. Unlike that storm, Idalia blew into a very lightly inhabited area known as Florida’s “nature coast,” one of the state’s most rural regions, which lies far from crowded metropolises or busy tourist areas and features millions of acres of undeveloped land.
That doesn’t mean it didn’t do major damage. Rushing water covered streets near the coast and unmoored small boats, and nearly a half-million customers in Florida and Georgia lost power.
In Perry, the wind blew out store windows, tore siding off buildings and overturned a gas station canopy. Heavy rains partly flooded Interstate 275 in Tampa, and wind toppled power lines onto the northbound side of Interstate 75 just south of Valdosta, Georgia.
Less than 20 miles south of where Idalia made landfall, businesses, boat docks and homes in Steinhatchee, Florida, were swallowed up by water surging in from Deadman’s Bay. Police officers blocked traffic into the coastal community of more than 500 residents known for fishing and foresting industries.