Hurricane Idalia storm surge moves mobile homes, collapses walls in Steinhatchee
Hurricane Idalia damaged Stacie Austin’s home. Its storm surge pushed a mobile home over a block away from where it once stood. Its force was so random that it spared Chip Potter nearby.
The powerful high-end Category 3 hurricane spun fast up the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and into The Big Bend area of Florida with a storm surge estimated to be up to 15 feet high.
Some of the residents who evacuated Steinhatchee, a Gulf coastal community in the southern part of Taylor County, returned on Thursday to more damage than they had thought Idalia was capable of.
The damage included collapsed walls.
“We did not expect it for sure,” Austin said. “We expected a lot of flooding and pulling furniture out and tearing drywall out and stuff. But didn’t think we wouldn’t have a wall — not in a block house!”
Some of the residents who evacuated Steinhatchee, a Gulf coastal community in the southern part of Taylor County, returned on Thursday to more damage than they had thought Idalia was capable of.
Some residents said they didn’t have insurance. Others said they were ready to rebuild. Potter said what happened in his neighborhood was “terrible,” and he felt lucky.
“It came up our road,” Potter said adding the water stopped just feet away from his home by his shed.
The Florida National Guard was in the area. Some damaged buildings housed businesses, including the family-owned Roy’s Restaurant at the banks of the river and overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Idalia is the first strong storm to hit The Big Bend region since Hurricane Easy in 1950. The Florida Highway Patrol reported there were two weather-related fatal crashes hours before landfall.
