Idalia makes landfall

At 7:45-ish am ET yesterday morning, Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Florida’s sparsely populated Big Bend region as a strong Category 3 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of ~125 mph.

The storm made its way across Florida, and then into Georgia and South Carolina, leaving destruction, flooding, power outages, and canceled flights in its wake. As of late last night, Idalia – which has been downgraded into a tropical storm – was around 15 miles north-northwest of Charleston, South Carolina.

• One death has been attributed to the storm, a motorist in Florida who was driving amid heavy rainfall.
• Some parts of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina are underwater (see pics); for example, the island city of Cedar Key, Florida, received 8 to 9 feet of storm surge, and Charleston, South Carolina, recorded its fifth-highest peak tide Wednesday night.
• ~280,000 people are currently without power across Florida and Georgia (it was ~450,000 at 7 pm ET last night).
• ~1,070 flights were canceled Wednesday. Though Tampa International Airport, which had closed Tuesday, reopened to arriving flights yesterday afternoon.

🌀👀 Looking ahead… Like two friends getting to a bachelorette party at the same time, Idalia’s arrival coincides with a rare super blue moon. Put simply, the moon affects the tide, and its current position is contributing to higher levels of flooding than would otherwise happen. This is expected to continue as Idalia makes its way towards/through South Carolina and into the Atlantic.