As Hurricane Idalia made its way through northern Florida as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday, powerful winds combined with rain and storm surges to leave a trail of downed trees, damaged property, flooded streets and power outages.
Some remarkable impacts of the historic storm were documented on social media:
The Steinhatchee River appears to reverse direction
About 20 miles south of Keaton Beach, in the Big Bend of Florida, an overflowing Steinhatchee River is inundating the historic coastal town of the same name. Photos and video from the region show streets transformed into their own rivers, with houses and street signs peeking out from the mess.
At one point earlier this morning, the river itself appeared to reverse directions and flow inland, causing sailboats to break free from their moorings and collide with a local bridge.
A river gauge measured an increase in just an hour, the National Weather Service in Tallahassee reported.
“When we say the storm surge threat would increase rapidly, this is what we meant,”
Storm surge from reversed the Steinhatchee River, tore sailboats from their moorings and they lost their masts against the bridge.
— Jonathan Petramala (@jpetramala)
READ MORE: Recovery efforts, searches begin in the wake of Idalia
Damage along Florida's Nature Coast
With landfall in rural north Florida, Idalia is expected to cause less damage than Hurricane Ian, which hit the Fort Myers area last year. But conducting searches and helping residents can be more time-consuming in sparsely populated areas.
“Up here in the Big Bend, you may have two houses on a five-mile road,” said State Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie
Idalia was expected to cause significant damage in rural areas such as Levy, Suwannee and Madison counties. Initial reports included Madison County being nearly 100% without electricity and flooding in Levy County’s low-lying Cedar Key, officials said.
Flooding submerged most of the coastal town's downtown area. A tide gauge measured storm surge at 6.8 feet.
“We have multiple trees down, debris in the roads, do not come,” posted the fire and rescue department in Cedar Key. “We have propane tanks blowing up all over the island.”
Storm surge causing structural damage and blowing out the doors of condo complex in Cedar Key, FL from Hurricane Idalia
— Reed Timmer, PhD (@ReedTimmerAccu)
A close shave at the Governor's Mansion
Idalia's path into Georgia left felled trees and power lines in its wake, including an ancient tree at the Governor's Mansion in Tallahassee.
Crews launched “search, secure and stabilize” recovery efforts after Idalia made landfall about 75 miles southeast of the state capital as a Category 3 storm.
About half of the 500,000 utility customers lost electricity in various parts of the state, DeSantis said. But he said the number of outages could increase.
100 year old oak tree falls on the Governor’s Mansion in Tallahassee — Mason, Madison, Mamie and I were home at the time, but thankfully no one was injured.
— Casey DeSantis (@CaseyDeSantis)
Our prayers are with everyone impacted by the storm.
The Associated Press and NPR contributed to this report.