CEDAR KEY, Fla. – Hurricane Idalia made landfall Wednesday morning on the west coast of Florida, creating dangerous storm surge, flooding and causing major damage.
The National Hurricane Center said Idalia made landfall around 7:45 a.m. near Keaton Beach in the Big Bend region, where the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula.
NHC said dangerous storm surge would continue along the Florida Gulf Coast through Wednesday evening.
Cedar Key is an island city off the northwest coast of Florida, where flooding took place. Cedar Key Fire Rescue posted photos on Facebook showing the damage.
“We have propane tanks blowing off all over the island. Do not drive do not come out. We cannot get to them at this time,” fire rescue wrote on Facebook.
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Video from the Tampa area also showed major flooding from storm surge. You can watch that at the top of this story.
Clearwater police also shared video from South Gulfview Boulevard of the road covered in water.
Other damage was seen while News 6′s Erik Von Ancken was reporting live in Perry, Florida, when a transformer blew up behind him.
“That behind me is the third transformer to blow here,” said von Ancken, as Idalia was nearing landfall.
Idalia continues to weaken as it moves through Florida.
Forecasters said it is likely to still be a hurricane while moving across southern Georgia and near the coast of Georgia or southern South Carolina late Wednesday.
Idalia is forecast to be a tropical storm while moving near the coasts of northeastern South Carolina and North Carolina on Wednesday night and on Thursday.
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