Heavy winds and flooding impacted Georgia and the Carolinas as Idalia made its way up the coast after making landfall in Florida on Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane.
Idalia made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida just before 8 a.m., with winds reaching over 125 mph, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
The storm moved into Georgia Wednesday afternoon, leaving over 90,000 people without power, according to PowerOutage.com.
Meghan Barwick, a spokesperson for Lowndes County, said that 24,000 homes in the jurisdiction were without power, adding that residents should not expect electricity to be restored for at least a few days, per the Associated Press.
At a news conference on Thursday, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said that the state is doing everything possible for the areas affected by the storm.
“We’re fortunate this storm was a narrow one, and it was fast moving and didn’t sit on us,” said Kemp, per the AP. “But if you were in the path, it was devastating. And we’re responding that way.”
Kemp added that cities like Valdosta were hit hard by the storm and will have a long recovery process.
“I’ve had multiple people text me in Valdosta and say that city will not be the same once the cleanup is done,” he said, according to PBS.
Only one death in Georgia has been confirmed. A Valdosta man was killed when a tree fell on him in the road.
Idalia continued to track northward, reaching South Carolina around 8 p.m. on Wednesday, according to Forbes. Prior to reaching South Carolina, Idalia was downgraded to a tropical storm with sustained winds of 65 mph.
The National Weather Service (NWS) reported “major coastal inundation,” as well as a water breach in the Charleston Battery, the city’s landmark defensive seawall.
Tropical storm and storm surge warnings were lifted by the NWS around 2 a.m. on Thursday for many coastal cities in South Carolina. Still, residents were advised to remain cautious as heavy rainfall could result in flooding of rivers, according to The Post and Courier.
Idalia continued to churn northward and began to affect coastal cities in North Carolina Thursday morning and afternoon. A public advisory issued by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) at 1 p.m. CT warned that “tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 205 miles” from the storm’s center.
The NHC also warned of potentially “life-threatening inundation, from rising water moving inland” in certain areas.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper previously enacted a statewide emergency due to the impending storm. He warned residents to prepare for heavy rainfall and potential flooding in certain areas, as reported by PBS.
Official forecasts indicate that Idalia will move off the coast of North Carolina throughout Thursday and into the Atlantic Ocean over the weekend, potentially landing in Bermuda, per the NHC.
Swells are expected along the southeastern coast of North Carolina and are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip tide conditions throughout Labor Day weekend, PBS reported.