Earlier this week Idalia was merely a tropical storm, but unnaturally warmed water near America's southeastern coast helped rear it into a record-breaking hurricane flooding Florida and Georgia. Experts agree that excessive heat from climate change, primarily caused by burning ossil fuels, contributed to this result, apparently super-charging the tropical storm. According to NBC News, two people have died, both from car crashes in the storm. Idalia was later downgraded back to a tropical storm Wednesday afternoon.
Idalia fluctuated from being a Category 3 and a Category 4 storm throughout Wednesday, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. It made landfall at approximately 7:45 AM local time at the corner of Florida's Big Bend region and by 11 AM had reached Georgia, pummeling through the region southeast of Tallahassee with winds reaching 90 mph. Citrus County Sheriff Mike Prendergast told CNN that "where I'm standing right now could potentially be under 6 feet of water by the time we get the high tide" and predicted "while the hurricane made landfall several hours ago … its affects are going to play out for a long time to come." CNN also reports that bridges connecting Florida islands to the mainland have become inaccessible and that the strong winds have been accompanied by floods and tornadoes.
