(ConcernedPatriot.com) – Despite significant restoration efforts, power outages are increasing as Hurricane Idalia strikes Florida and Georgia, leaving hundreds of thousands without electricity.
Around 7:35 a.m. on Wednesday, Hurricane Idalia landed in the Florida Big Bend close to Keaton Beach. With maximum sustained winds of 125 mph when it made landfall, it was still considered a “major” storm; however, those winds have subsequently reduced.
Over 320k electric customers are without power from #HurricaneIdalia.
275K out in #Florida,
61k out in #Georgia.
[2023-08-30 11:38:41 AM EDT]https://t.co/kJ0OPcOSrS#PowerOutage pic.twitter.com/81VB975fqB— PowerOutage.us (@PowerOutage_us) August 30, 2023
Hurricane #Idalia made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend this morning packing destructive winds, blinding rainfall, and life-threatening storm surge. pic.twitter.com/tUpRA5W0yQ
— AccuWeather (@accuweather) August 30, 2023
Thousands are currently without electricity, notably in Florida’s Big Bend. To put things into perspective, nearly a full day before Idalia’s arrival on Tuesday at 11:30 a.m., 6,308 consumers tracked in Florida were without power.
That number was approximately 275,409 in the Sunshine State alone as of midday on Wednesday.
As “damaging” winds hit the Peach State, thousands more people in southern Georgia are without electricity.
According to PowerOutage.us, there are currently over 61,000 Georgians without power, bringing the storm’s total number of powerless people in Georgia and Florida to about 320,000.
11AM EDT 30 Aug: Significant impacts from #Idalia continue, with dangerous storm surge along the Gulf coast of Florida and damaging winds moving inland. Visit https://t.co/Iqeygf0LEO for the latest pic.twitter.com/n2twFkCavX
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) August 30, 2023
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) cautions that despite Idalia having made landfall hours ago, “significant impacts from storm surge will continue along the Gulf coast of Florida within the Storm Surge Warning through this evening.” It further states that when the storm’s eye moves across Georgia.
Toward the east coast, hurricane-force winds will move across southern Georgia.
Ships are running reverse automatically, all owing to Hurricane Idalia. #Idalia #IdaliaHurricane #HurricaneIdalia #HurricaneIdelia #Florida #FloridaHurricane pic.twitter.com/q6LwPW2HoR
— News Detector (@LiveNewsPlace) August 30, 2023
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) claimed the state had over 25,000 linemen stationed. They prepared to respond to the storm, with thousands more on the way, before the storm’s arrival.
Jim Cantore reporting on #Idalia
Keep safe, Florida.
And please do not forget your pets. No dogs left behind!
— Joseph Pino (@JosephPino_) August 30, 2023
“We had as of this morning over 25,000 linemen stationed [and] more on the way so you will have most likely between 30,000 and 40,000 linemen. When the storm hits [they] will be in the state of Florida and then they will immediately move to commence power restoration efforts,” the governor said this week.
While the number of customers without power has increased substantially since DeSantis’s Wednesday morning update, he announced that, at the time of his press conference, linemen had already restored power to 100,000 households “through hard work all through the night.”
In every location where it is safe to do so, he stated in his morning briefing, such efforts are still being made.
Governor @RonDeSantis: More than 100,000 Florida households have already had their power restored. pic.twitter.com/YaU0J3a0k6
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) August 30, 2023
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