Hurricane Idalia has downgraded to a “tropical storm” and strong winds continue

With the southeastern United States experiencing widespread flooding and damage from strong winds, Idalia was no longer a hurricane but a “tropical storm.”

The intensity of Idalia decreases, but the alert persists. The US National Hurricane Center announced on Wednesday that Hurricane Idalia has been downgraded to a “tropical storm.”

“The risk of freshwater flooding, storm surge, and strong winds remains in parts of Georgia and the Carolinas,” the National Hurricane Center previously tweeted.

Floods and damages

Florida faces widespread flooding on Wednesday after Hurricane Idalia passed by, which uprooted trees and power lines in its wake and is now sweeping through Georgia.

Idalia, which carried winds of up to 150 kilometers per hour, made landfall at 7:45 a.m. local time near Keaton Beach in Florida as a Category 3 hurricane on a scale of 5 degrees, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). It was initially downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane, then to a tropical storm.

Despite the damage, authorities seem to believe the worst has been avoided. “We are saved and blessed,” Levy County Sheriff Robert McCallum said.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said some of the affected areas had “never been hit by a major hurricane before.”

However, President Joe Biden noted that we must “remain vigilant” as the hurricane continues its path across the southeastern United States.

Nearly 300,000 homes were without power on Wednesday in Florida and more than 200,000 homes in Georgia, according to the specialized website Poweroutage.us.