By Marco Bello, Maria Alejandra Cardona and Steve Gorman
PERRY, Florida (Reuters) -Tropical Storm Idalia on Thursday was drenching the Carolinas with heavy downpours that threatened to cause dangerous flooding while Florida’s Gulf Coast began recovery efforts after the system tore through the area as a Category 3 hurricane.
The back end of the storm, which was headed northeast towards the sea, was producing torrential rains that could amount to 9 inches (23 cm) in some spots along the regions coastline early on Thursday, the National Weather Service said.
The service warned the rain could produce life-threatening flash flooding, especially in low lying areas and along rivers, through the morning and into the afternoon. Storm surge warnings were also in effect for several ocean front communities as heavy rains and fierce winds remained in the forecast.
“Driving conditions may become dangerous,” the service said in an advisory, urging residents to remain vigilant after many motorists became stranded on Wednesday. “Extreme rainfall rates could result in urban and flash flooding which may prompt water rescues.”
As of Thursday morning, the storm was about 45 miles (72 km) southwest of Wilmington, North Carolina, carrying winds of 60 mph as it drifted northeast. Idalia was expected to curl eastward off North Carolina and out into the Atlantic on Thursday night, the NHC said.
The rough conditions in the Carolinas come a day after Idalia crashed ashore at Keaton Beach in Florida’s Big Bend region, lashing the coast with sustained winds of up to 125 miles per hour (201 kph), accompanied by torrential rains and pounding surf.
Local, state and federal authorities will assess the full extent of damage across the region in the days ahead. Insured property losses in Florida were projected to run $9.36 billion, investment bank UBS said in a research note.
While coastal communities sustained major damage, Idalia appeared from early reports to have been far less destructive than Hurricane Ian, a Category 5 storm that struck Florida last September, killing 150 people and causing $112 billion in damage.
The surge of storm-driven seawater that accompanied Idalia rushed inland for miles, flooding low-lying communities and roadways in its path. No deaths had been reported from the storm surge, considered the potentially most lethal hazard posed by a major hurricane.
“There is definitely some damage along the coastal communities,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told MSNBC in an interview from Florida, where she said she planned to tour the area with Governor Ron DeSantis.
Florida Highway Patrol reported that two motorists had died in separate rain-related crashes early Wednesday before Idalia made landfall. DeSantis later said state authorities were investigating one unconfirmed storm-related traffic death.
Criswell said the few reported deaths were a good sign that residents hopefully heeded evacuation orders to move inland away from storm surges.
“There was definitely some significant storm surge,” Criswell told MSNBC, adding that there was no official measurement finalized yet but it appeared to be close to expectations of 15 feet in some areas.
BOAT RESCUES
In Taylor and Hernando counties, National Guard troops pulled stranded motorists to safety on Wednesday, while emergency teams plying submerged streets in boats rescued dozens of people from floodwaters in St. Petersburg, about 200 miles south where the storm made landfall.
Boat rescues of trapped residents also took place in at least one town in the neighboring state of Georgia, where Idalia turned as it weakened and drifted northward out of Florida.
Electricity outages from fallen trees, utility poles and power lines were widespread, as were wind-damaged and flooded buildings, in hard-hit communities such as Perry, a city about 20 miles inland and north of where Idalia came ashore.
In all, more than 315,000 homes and businesses were without power in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas early on Thursday morning, according to Poweroutage.us.
As predicted, the heart of Florida’s largely rural Big Bend region, where the state’s northern Gulf Coast panhandle curves into the western side of the Florida Peninsula, bore the brunt of the storm. The area is roughly bounded by the cities of Gainesville and Tallahassee, the state capital.
Rescue crews were also dealing with widespread damage and flooded streets in Hillsborough County, an area of 1.5 million people well to the south that includes Tampa, officials said in a news briefing.
Getting traffic lights restored and debris removed, as well as more generators, were the priorities revealed by a survey of the worst-hit areas, Jared Perdue, the head of the state’s Transportation Department said on Wednesday.
All state bridges in storm-stricken areas had been cleared for reuse, and most of the 52 school districts that closed ahead of the storm planned to reopen on Thursday, officials said.
While Idalia proved less formidable than was feared, it illustrated an increasing trend of rapidly intensifying cyclonic storms, a phenomenon scientists say is symptomatic of climate change.
Feeding on the warm, open waters of the Gulf of Mexico, Idalia quickly gained strength as it churned toward Florida after skirting the western tip of Cuba on Monday as a tropical storm.
Idalia reached hurricane strength on Tuesday and attained Category 4 intensity on the five-step Saffir-Simpson wind scale early Wednesday before landfall, but by 7 a.m. had weakened into Category 3, according to the National Hurricane Center.
As it entered southeastern Georgia, Idalia’s wind speeds ebbed to 90 mph, reducing the tempest to Category 1. By 5 p.m. EDT, it weakened further into a tropical storm, the NHC reported.
(Reporting by Maria Alejandra Cardona in Steinhatchee, Florida, Marco Bello in Cedar Key, Florida, Joey Roulette in Tampa, Florida, Rich McKay in Atlanta, Brendan O’Brien in Chicago, Brad Brooks in Longmont, Colorado, Kanishka Singh, Jeff Mason and Nandita Bose in Washington; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing Michael Perry and Philippa Fletcher)
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