Page 62 - Perry News Today

Storm. >> idalia was packing 125 mile per hour winds as floridas vulnerable big bend coast took a direct hit, we are now seeing catastrophic storm surge and flooding, conditions have been called apocalyptic and are life-threatening. major bridges in tampa are closing as they get lashed with waves. and this, this is what winds of 125 miles per hour look like. you can see the gusts driving the rain and at one point sending debris flying across this parking lot. this is happening in perry, florida....

The worst of the storm has passed for residents of Perry, Florida, after Hurricane Idalia struck Florida’s Big Bend region.

Storm surge. its not fort myers beach because its not a city, but all of these small communities are under water north of tampa and especially in the coastal areas. we still have damage thats being done. we industrial trees that are falling down. we still have people losing power. the area now of concern is valdosta, georgia. if were going to see the highest wind gusts there, possibly up to 90 miles per hour, that would happen in the next hour. the winds are lighter now in perry. where maggie wa...

Bend region. local officials say this storm is unprecedented and perry is 20 miles inland but still expecting some of the worst wind damage from this storm as it comes ashore. so, again, we still have power at the hotel where were staying but as you can see were starting to get hit with rain and really were expecting winds to pick up in just a short while, willie. >> so, tell us a little about perry, gabe, if you would. we know as bill said that big bend area is a natural wildlife area as a matt...

Governor ron desantis leading a briefing in tallahassee, florida, a briefing that illustrated the power of this storm when the power dipped out briefly while the governor was speaking before the generators kicked in just a few seconds later. thats a live picture at 6:54 of perry, florida, just since we came on the air a little under an hour ago. that picture has changed pretty dramatically. thats gabe gutierrez, our reporter. the winds have picked up. the rains have picked up. what we learned is...

To try to get in the center of this thing and a lot of them are in perry. thats going to be the closest to getting in the eye. to give you perspective, gabe is in that location where people are trying to get to to see the worst of the storm possible because there is no location right down here on the coast that you can really go to get in the center of the storm. the storm chasers do this, by the way, they want to give us the historical context and measure the pressure in the middle of the storm...

Time. water issues far into the north here up the south carolina coastline then tomorrow morning this thing exits just south of cape fear in the wilmington area. a zoomed in view of the eye. notice its falling apart. the northern eye wall is moving onshore and the hurricane center will declare landfill when the center of the eye, so if we do the circle like this, it would be right here so were about ten miles from shore. and its going to come onshore south of perry here and this is what you dont...

Deteriorate even in the five minutes weavers been talking to you. please be safe with you and your crew and appreciate your reporting from perry, florida, expected to take a big hit when this thing makes landfill shortly, gabe. thanks so much. gabe, i was interested to hear governor desantis say yesterday and we will hear from the governor again in a few minutes here live, bill, that this is a storm unlike weve seen before and by that he meant that the big bend area actually for all the historic...

Obviously perry, were not going to get storm surge here however that doesnt mean it wont be dangerous and as we get this wind hitting me right now, the concern here in perry will be the wind speed, and, again, its expected to really deteriorate here, the conditions over the coming hours or so. willie, yesterday the authorities here as they have in other parts of florida have said if people did not evacuate once the winds reach 45 miles an hour here, theyre just not going to be able to help them....

Were spared. >> the tampa bay area, i think things are good. leon county is doing well. were still assessing what is all going on on the ground in the places that had the initial impact. >> as i mentioned, the storm is now into georgia bearing down on savannah, which is under both a hurricane warning and a tornado watch. after that, its expected to push into south carolina, slamming the area between columbia and charleston. this is what idalia looks like when it came ashore along keaton beach. t...