A mansion along Florida’s Big Bend has been marooned on it’s own tiny island as ‘apocalyptic’ Hurricane Idalia continues to sweep along the coast – as storm surges increase seven ft in less than an hour.
The monster storm, which was downgraded to a Category 2 as it moved inland, engulfed much of the coastline at the top of the Panhandle on Wednesday morning.
At least one person has died in the hurricane so far, with Pasco County officials confirming the man, 40, lost control of his Ford Ranger while driving ‘too fast’ for the conditions.
Officials fear that the ‘apocalyptic’ 16ft storm surge will cause catastrophic flooding, as water beaches homes across Steinhatchee with 110mph winds battering the state.
Idalia crossed onto Florida’s Big Bend at Keaton Beach at 7.45am on Wednesday and is now heading northeast towards Georgia and the Carolinas.
The storm has maximum sustained winds near 105 mph, with higher gusts, and is currently around 25 miles south of Valdosta, Georgia.
It’s the strongest storm to make landfall in the Big Bend region in 127 years, matching an unnamed hurricane in 1896.
Tens of thousands of people are under evacuation orders, and at least 250,000 are without power as flooding is battering the Big Bend coastline.
It is the latest hurricane to batter Florida, which has barely recovered from Hurricane Ian – which cost the state $113 billion to repair.
The National Weather Service said: ‘River gauge in Steinhatchee rapidly increased this morning as storm surge moved in with the river gauge increasing from 1 ft to 8 ft in only 1 hour.
‘Last observation was at 830am ET. When we say the storm surge threat would increase rapidly, this is what we meant.’
Idalia is the second storm of a century to hit Keaton Beach, where the hurricane made landfall, in 30 years.
In March 1993, the region was struck by what has been called ‘the storm of the century,’ with wind gusts over 90 miles per hour, tornadoes and a devastating storm surge with at least seven killed in the county.
Idalia surged to a Category 4 storm in the early hours because of warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico, reaching speeds of up to 156mph – before dropping to 125mph shortly after 7am and 110mph at 9am.
St Petersburg has been completely cut off from the mainland, with authorities closing major bridges because of the hurricane.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) has warned of catastrophic storm surges of up to 12 to 16 feet in the worst affected areas.
Cedar Kay is being hit with almost 9 feet of storm surge, the worst in 109 years with waters still rising rapidly – eclipsing a record from Hurricane Hermine in 2016.
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