Hurricane Idalia has brought torrential rain and threats of flash flooding to southeast Georgia after slamming into Florida, where authorities feared a powerful storm surge may have inundated communities.
Authorities in Florida were still trying to carry out damage assessments in the hardest-hit areas, as water rescues of trapped residents were underway in southern Georgia.
Video footage and photographs from the region showed ocean waters washing over highways and neighbourhoods swamped by extensive flooding at midday on Wednesday.
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More than 75 people have been rescued from floodwaters in St Petersburg, the city said on the X (formerly Twitter) social media platform.
A video showed two rescue workers in a small boat travelling through a flooded neighbourhood in heavy rains.
Drawing strength from the Gulf of Mexico’s warm waters, Idalia unleashed destructive winds and torrential downpours that were forecast to cause flooding up to 5m deep along Florida’s Gulf Coast.
By early Wednesday afternoon, the eye of Idalia had left Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis said at a press conference. He added that parts of the state, particularly in the north, were still being buffeted by storm bands.
Florida’s Gulf Coast, southeastern Georgia and eastern parts of North and South Carolina could face 10cm-20cm of rain through Thursday, the National Hurricane Centre (NHC) warned.
The storm’s most dangerous feature is a powerful surge of wind-driven surf that is expected to flood low-lying areas, officials said.
Earlier on Wednesday, DeSantis warned the chances of surviving a storm surge that approached 5m were “not great,” and that “you would need to be in a three-storey building because it is going to rise very, very high”.
Overnight, Idalia attained “an extremely dangerous Category 4 intensity” on the five-step Saffir-Simpson wind scale, but by 7am the storm weakened slightly into Category 3 with maximum sustained winds of 200km/h, the NHC said.
Two motorists died in separate rain-related crashes on Wednesday morning, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. In Wednesday afternoon’s press briefing, DeSantis said he only knew of “unconfirmed” reports of storm-caused fatalities.
About 1000 bridges are expected to be inspected in northern Florida on Wednesday before they can reopen.
More than 280,000 homes and businesses were without power in Florida and 160,000 customers were similarly affected in Georgia.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday said he discussed the storm with DeSantis, who is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Biden in the 2024 presidential election.
Biden said they shared a desire to help Floridians.
“This is not about politics, it’s about taking care of the people of the state,” he told reporters..
It was the fourth major hurricane to strike Florida in the past seven years, following Irma in 2017, Michael in 2018 and Ian — which peaked at Category 5 — last September.
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