PHOTOS: Idalia weakens after a destructive path through southeastern U.S.
Idalia is the strongest storm to make landfall in the Big Bend region in more than 125 years
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Hurricane Idalia officially made landfall Wednesday morning in the Big Bend region near Keaton Beach.
Idalia, now a tropical storm, is travelling across South Carolina and lashing the state with heavy rain and sustained winds near 100 km/h, and even higher gusts.
The National Hurricane Center confirmed Idalia made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane at 7:45 a.m. on Wednesday.
Idalia is the strongest storm to hit the Big Bend region in more than 125 years and the third hurricane to make landfall in Florida in the past 12 months, following Hurricane Ian in September 2022 and Hurricane Nicole in October 2022.
As of 9:15 p.m. EDT Wednesday, there were under 180,000 Floridians without power, according to poweroutage.us. The majority of the outages are around the Big Bend region of the state.
The Weather Network's Mark Robinson was in Perry, Fla., capturing early impacts from the hurricane.
Content shared on social media further demonstrates the severity of this storm:
With any major storm comes the risk of storm surge, which is a major concern as the landfall coincided with Wednesday’s blue supermoon, meaning high tide will increase water levels.
Keep checking back to The Weather Network for more updates on the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season.
Thumbnail credit: David Hodge, The Weather Network
