A man and woman kayak past an abandoned vehicle at the intersection of Boca Ciega Drive and Pasadena Avenue in St. Pete Beach. Photo: Chris Urso/Tampa Bay (Chris Urso/Tampa Bay Times Via Z/)
Florida began this Thursday to assess the damage caused by the devastating floods as a result of the passage of the hurricane idaliawhich was downgraded to a storm and is now advancing along the coast of the southeastern United States.
Idalia made landfall in Florida on Wednesday after starting its trajectory on Monday in Cuba and now threatens the state of Georgia with torrential rains and more flooding in coastal areas, where residents are already experiencing power outages.
In Florida, Georgia and South Carolinamore than 310,000 homes were without electricity on Thursday morning, according to the specialized portal PowerOutage.us.
State officials indicated that rescue teams are operational, but admitted that it may take time to reach areas blocked by falling trees or flooding.
Idalia stormed into Florida, near keaton beachas a category 3 hurricane on a scale of 5, with winds of up to 215 km/h at 07:45 on Wednesday, according to the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC).
In some areas of the coast, the waters rose up to five meters, according to the NHC.
Later, Idalia lost strength, but generated winds of about 100 km/h in Georgia and South Carolina.
The NHC warned that flooding from heavy rains and strong winds will continue along the North Carolina coast through today.
“There is still a lot of flooding” in Charleston, South Carolina, he told the network on Wednesday night. CNN the city’s director of emergency management, Ben Almquist.
The deaths
A man cleaning a road that had been blocked in the area of Valdostain Georgia, died from falling from a treeLowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk reported.
“The man was out working clearing a tree on the road, just a local citizen doing good things. A huge gust of wind came up and dropped another tree, killing it instantly,” he commented.
A second person was seriously injured in this same episode while Paulk’s assistant registered minor injuries.
Two other deaths were recorded in two separate traffic accidents, as a result of the heavy rains and winds caused by Idalia
“terrifying”
The authorities hope that the situation will improve as of this Thursday morning.
“Everything should improve once the night (Wednesday) passes,” he projected Ron Moralesa meteorologist from National Service in Charlestonin statements to local media.
According to projections, the storm will finish its journey in the Atlantic this Thursday.
Authorities called thousands of people in Florida to evacuate, although some residents refused to leave their homes.
In Perry, an affected city, dozens of trees were uprooted by the wind.
A pine tree fell on the house John Kallschmidt76, who said it was a “terrifying” experience.
“It was worse than we expected,” he told AFP. “But that’s the way it is, that’s life in Florida.”
Climate change
In Steinhatchee, a small town of about 1,000 people located on the coast 30 km south of Keaton Beach, the almost deserted main street was completely inundated and looked like an extension of a neighboring river.
“Some trees fell in front of my house, but otherwise the house was saved. Everything is fine, ”she told the AFP Patrick Boland, a 73-year-old man who locked himself in his home.
In the zone of Tampa Baywhere there are more than 3 million residents, the streets were flooded and some inhabitants had to use boats to get around.
More than 1,000 rescuers were deployed by federal authorities, after the White House called for enhanced surveillance.
“Idalia is the most powerful storm to make landfall in this part of Florida in over 100 years,” he stated. Deanne Criswellresponsible for the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Scientists warn that storms will become increasingly powerful as temperatures rise due to climate change.
american president Joe Biden He told reporters that “no one can deny the impact of the climate crisis.”
“Just look around us,” he said of the “historic floods” or the recent devastating fires in Hawaii and Canada.
(With information from AFP)
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Source-www.infobae.com