08/30/2023

Hurricane Idalia Races Northward After Florida Landfall

It has become a tropical storm as it sweeps across Georgia

Hours after making landfall in Florida as a Category 3 storm, officials at 5 p.m. Wednesday downgraded Idalia to a tropical storm as it continues a sweep across Georgia. A tropical storm is defined as having sustained winds of 39 to 73 mph.

Idalia is expected by sunset to reach Savannah — where the storm will meet the Atlantic Ocean and the South Carolina border.

As the storm slammed into the Big Bend area, hundreds of miles south it pushed water to near-record levels in Tampa and St. Petersburg. Many counties in southern Georgia are under flash-flood advisories and could face strong winds. Rain will continue to intensify into South Carolina, with coastal flooding expected along the shores of Georgia and the Carolinas.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.