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Hurricane Idalia makes historic landfall as strongest storm to strike Florida’s Big Bend in 125 years
Raging Hurricane Idalia officially made an unprecedented and historic landfall Wednesday along Florida's Gulf Coast, blasting destructive winds, heavy rainfall and catastrophic storm surge.
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KEATON BEACH, Fla. – Raging Hurricane Idalia officially made an unprecedented and historic landfall Wednesday along Florida's Gulf Coast, blasting destructive winds, heavy rainfall and catastrophic storm surge as power outages climbed to over 200,000.
The Category 3 storm hit along the coast of Florida's Big Bend near Keaton Beach about 7:45 a.m. local time, posing an immediate threat to lives and properties with its 125 mph winds and significant flooding. Idalia has since weakened to a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 110 mph as the storm moves to the northeast at 18 mph.
The FOX Forecast Center said Idalia was the strongest hurricane to strike the Big Bend area – especially near Cedar Key – in 125 years, dating back to an unnamed 1896 storm.
Reporting from inside Idalia's eyewall
Brian Emfinger, a storm chaser with Live Storms Media, experienced Idalia's landfall in Keaton Beach. He reported that the front of the eye wall contained strong winds. Although a wind gauge recorded a gust of 83 mph before toppling, Emfinger estimated gusts over 100 mph.
"There was pretty severe wind damage," Emfinger told FOX Weather, which included one home that lost its entire roof.
After the eye passed, the winds returned with even more ferocity, blowing onshore and bringing a wall of water with it. Emfinger noted that the storm surge arrived quickly with the back eyewall, rising several feet in just a few minutes.
Despite the town being flooded, Emfinger observed that the storm surge was less than forecasted.