Hurricane Idalia: Tree falls on Ron DeSantis’ home moments after he warned folks to remain secure

A 100-year-old oak tree has fallen on the governor of Florida’s mansion as he warned folks to remain secure throughout Hurricane Idalia.

Ron DeSantis’ spouse Casey has mentioned members of the family have been dwelling on the time however no person was injured.

“Our prayers are with everyone impacted by the storm”, she mentioned.

Mr DeSantis had moments earlier given a information convention the place he mentioned there had been no deaths on account of the storm however warned folks to remain secure.

He additionally mentioned 250,000 properties are with out energy.

Idalia made landfall in Florida as a harmful Category 3 storm and later crossed into Georgia nonetheless as a hurricane.

It was later downgraded to a Category 2 storm as its centre moved in direction of southern Georgia.

Idalia is now a Category 1 storm however has brought about flooding with extra water anticipated at excessive tide on Wednesday afternoon native time.

Mr DeSantis mentioned through the information convention there have been no deaths on account of the storm however urged folks to remain secure.

“Don’t put your life at risk by doing anything dumb at this point,” he mentioned. “This thing’s powerful. If you’re inside, just hunker down until it gets past you.”

Florida Highway Patrol earlier mentioned two males, aged 40 and 59, had died in separate “weather-related” crashes.

However, Mr DeSantis’ feedback recommend the deaths will not be being attributed to Idalia.

Meanwhile, a senior Florida official has mentioned companies have caught fireplace, roofs have been blown off and two 911 centres quickly went offline through the storm.

The worst impacted metropolis was Perry, the place firefighters tackled two blazes and one home “potentially” collapsed, in accordance with Kevin Guthrie, government director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

Madison County has been hit exhausting too.

“They have a lot of debris on the ground and about 99% power outages,” he mentioned.

“A couple” of 911 centres went offline for about half an hour and there are some “minor backlogs” within the counties of Madison and Taylor, Mr Guthrie added.

“There is no one in distress who has not been taken care of.”

Ken Welch, the mayor of St Petersburg in Florida, mentioned elements of the town have been hit with about 4ft (1.2m) of storm surge.

He added extra water is anticipated at excessive tide on Wednesday afternoon native time.

Mr Welch says there stays a danger from tornadoes and stay downed energy strains. No deaths within the metropolis had been reported by late morning though some neighbourhoods have been flooded.

Three main bridges, together with the Sunshine Skyway throughout the mouth of Tampa Bay, remained closed.

“Make no mistake, this hurricane left its mark. The reality is we are not done dealing with the consequences of this major storm,” Mr Welch mentioned.

Images present floodwaters have submerged automobiles and left residential streets below water.

Meanwhile, Georgia governor Brain Kemp has mentioned between 9 and 10 inches of rain has fallen in some areas of the state at this time.

He mentioned some 61,000 individuals are presently with out energy.

Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather, mentioned wind gusts of 60mph to 80mph might nonetheless do “a lot of damage” in Georgia, in accordance with Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather.

He added that there are quite a lot of timber within the states affected that would come down and injure folks or block roads.

Mr Porter mentioned: “We don’t want people to let their guard down here as this storm continues to be very dangerous.

“Just as a result of the utmost sustained winds of the storm will likely be coming down, there may be nonetheless going to stay a major danger to folks.”