More than 240K without power in Florida after Idalia makes landfall

More than 240,000 Florida residents are without power after Hurricane Idalia made landfall Wednesday morning.

According to PowerOutage.us, 243,521 people were without power mid-Wednesday morning. Florida’s Big Bend area appeared to be the most affected, with Taylor, Lafayette and Wakulla counties seeing outage percentages of more than 65 percent. 

The storm made landfall as a Category 3 storm, but it was downgraded to a Category 2 storm as of 9 a.m., according to the National Hurricane Center. The hurricane’s maximum sustained winds now sit around 110 mph.

Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Deanne Criswell warned Florida residents to take the storm “seriously” Tuesday, despite their familiarity with weather like hurricanes and tropical storms. 

“I know that the people of Florida are no stranger to storms, and I encourage all Floridians to take this storm seriously,” Criswell said at a press conference Tuesday. 

Idalia is the third tropical cyclone to make landfall in Florida in 12 months. 

Hurricane Ian made landfall as a Category 4 storm on Sept. 28 in Cayo Costa, bringing destruction to southwest Florida as it hit with maximum sustained winds of 155 mph.

Hurricane Nicole hit Florida as a late-season Category 1 storm on Nov. 10. It made landfall near Vero Beach.