Hurricane Idalia slammed into Florida on Wednesday with howling winds, torrential rain and pounding surf, leaving devastation in its wake.
Winds of up to 125mph hit Florida’s Big Bend coastline as Idalia made landfall. After passing over Georgia, the storm is now making its way north through the Carolinas.
We take a look at Idalia’s path, where it is expected to head next and what it has left behind.
Where has been hit by Idalia already?
The hurricane landed at Keaton Beach on Florida’s Big Bend, known as the state’s nature coast, on Wednesday at 7.45am local time.
It had gathered pace over the Gulf of Mexico, reaching Category 4 status before weakening to Category 3 as it made landfall, according to the National Hurricane Center.
It still brought windspeeds of up to 125mp and a 15ft storm surge as it struck the coastline of north-west Florida.
The system remained a hurricane as it crossed into Georgia with top winds of 90mph, passing through Savannah as it made its way to South Carolina.
But by late Wednesday afternoon, it had weakened to a tropical storm, with windspeeds of up to 60mph by the evening.
On Thursday morning the National Hurricane Center showed Idalia just off the coast of the Carolinas, heading east-north-east, as a tropical storm.
What damage has it done?
As the eye of the storm moved inland, high winds shredded signs, ripped off roofs and brought down tall trees.
Video footage and photographs from the region around Idalia’s landfall showed ocean waters washing over roads and neighbourhoods swamped by extensive flooding at midday. Power cuts were widespread.
A CNN video revealed wind ripping the roof off a petrol station in Perry, a town 20 miles inland of where Idalia came ashore, which has been badly affected.
“All hell broke loose,” said Perry resident Belond Thomas.
A tree fell on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s home. His family were there but no one was hurt.
In Valdosta, Georgia, about 80 miles north-east of Tallahassee, emergency boat crews rescued residents trapped in homes, according to the city’s Facebook page.
No hurricane-related deaths have been officially confirmed in Florida, but the Florida Highway Patrol reported two people dying in separate weather-related crashes just hours before Idalia made landfall.
One man was killed in Valdosta, Georgia when a tree fell on him.
Joe Biden called the Governors of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina on Wednesday and told them their states had his administration’s full support, the White House said.
Where is Idalia heading next?
By the early hours of Thursday, the tropical storm was crossing over South Carolina and is now expected to travel along the state’s coast throughout Thursday before curling eastward off North Carolina and out into the Atlantic on Thursday night.
The National Hurricane Center has issued a warning for “heavy rainfall and life-threatening flash flooding in portions of eastern North Carolina”.
It said a tropical storm warning was in effect for South Santee River northward to the North Carolina/Virginia border and Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds.
A storm surge warning has been issued for Beaufort Inlet to Ocracoke Inlet North Carolina and Neuse and Pamlico Rivers, North Carolina.
There was also some concern it could hit Bermuda early next week as a tropical storm as it passed out into the Atlantic.
