By: Fallon Tolnay '25
Thousands of people in Florida, the Carolinas, and Georgia are without power, roads are littered with debris and the people are fearful of flooding. Idalia entered Florida as a category three hurricane and left as a tropical storm headed out to sea on August 30.
After Idalia hit the shore, Idalia made landfall near Keaton Beach at 7:45 a.m. as a high-end category three hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 125 miles per hour. Idalia remained a hurricane as it crossed into Georgia with winds of 90 miles per hour. It weakened into a tropical storm and dropped to 60 miles per hour.
“We’re hoping for the best and preparing for the worst,” North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said on August 30.
Heavy rains submerged neighborhoods across the south, but despite mandatory evacuation orders, boat teams in Florida saved 75 people or more in St. Petersburg alone, and another 60 people from Hudson.
President Biden signed a major disaster declaration at the appeal of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, which opens up financial help for individuals impacted by the storm and public groundwork.
Idalia spawned a tornado that briefly touched the suburb of Goose Creek, South Carolina, the National Weather Service said. The winds sent a car into the air and flipped it over, according to authorities and eyewitness video. Two people in the vehicle received minor injuries.
“My heart breaks for those who have been injured. It devastated the local economy, as well as homes, and businesses, and I bet there was a ton of flooding and billions of dollars of damage.” NHS junior Lily Fagan said.
Along the coast of South Carolina, Garden City, North Myrtle Beach, and Edisto Island all reported ocean water overflowing the dunes and spilling onto the beachfront streets.
In Charleston, storm surge from Idalia surpassed the seawall that protects the downtown, sending ankle-deep ocean water into the streets. Preliminary data showed that evening high tide reached just over nine feet, more than three feet above normal and the fifth highest reading in Charleston Harbor since records in 1899.
“The flooding must be horrible,” NHS junior Brennon DePasquale said
Florida had feared that Hurricane Idalia would be worse than last year’s Hurricane Ian, which people are still recovering from, which hit the heavily populated Fort Myers area, leaving 149 dead.
Unlike Hurricane Ian, Idalia blew into the natural coast, which is a very lightly populated area and one of the state’s most lightly populated regions that lies far from crowded and overpopulated areas or busy tourist areas, which has millions of acres of land that hasn’t been built on.
Even though Hurricane Idalia hit an area that is not heavily populated, it still did major damage. Thrashing water-covered streets near the coast, unlatched small boats, and nearly five hundred thousand in Florida and Georgia lost power. In Perry, the wind blew out store windows tore the siding off buildings, and overturned a gas station overhead.
State officials, 5,500 National Guardsmen, and rescue crews were searching and trying to recover people, inspecting bridges, clearing toppled trees, and looking for anyone who needed help.
President Joe Biden called the governors of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida and told them their states had his administration’s full support, the White House said.
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