Cedar Key, Florida, August 30, 2023, After making landfall on Florida's west coast on Wednesday morning, Hurricane Idalia remained a Category 2 hurricane, which is the most destructive classification possible. It then continued into Georgia. The storm brought to a region that had never experienced such destruction unprecedented rainfall and life-threatening storm surges. Over 242,000 people were left without energy as a result of trees being snapped by severe gusts that also brought down power lines, according to the AP. Rushing water covered the streets, and along the coast, some homes were nearly completely inundated, their buildings collapsing under the weight of the storm. As Idalia marched inland, strong winds blew signs apart and threw metal scraps into the air. Where the Florida Panhandle and the peninsula meet, in the sparsely populated Big Bend region, Idalia came ashore. At 7:45 a.m., it made landfall close to Keaton Beach as a high-end Category 3 hurricane with top sustained winds of almost 125 mph (205 kph). With maximum winds of 105 mph (165 mph) by 10 a.m., the storm had dropped to a Category 2 hurricane. It was predicted that it would continue to be a hurricane even after passing across Florida to the east of Tallahassee. Interstate 75 in Georgia was shut down because electricity wires fell across the road just south of Valdosta.
