A trail of destruction is what the first images of Idalia’s passage through northwestern Florida show, a state in which the hurricane, now downgraded to a storm, has caused historic flooding, road closures, destroyed homes and where more than 260,000 houses and buildings are without power.
Idalia, which made landfall this Wednesday in Florida with winds of 125 miles per hour (205 km/h), is the most powerful hurricane in the last 125 years to hit the region of Florida known as Big Bend, after an unnamed cyclone made landfall there in 1896 with the same power.
In Cedar Key, north of Tampa Bay, the storm surge raised the sea up to 8 feet (2.4 meters) above its normal level on Wednesday morning, according to the first information, a record higher than the record in this part that produced Hurricane Hermine in 2016.
At the moment there are two fatalities that this powerful cyclone has indirectly left, two people who died in traffic accidents while driving in the midst of “extreme” weather conditions, according to the Highway Patrol (FHP), although the governor The state’s Ron DeSantis said there are “no confirmed deaths.”
According to the governor, in Florida there are more than 250,000 homes without electricity.