Hurricanes and tropical storms are nothing new in the South, but the sheer magnitude of damage from Idalia has shocked residents in several areas. The storm first made landfall on Wednesday in Florida, where it razed homes and downed power poles. It then swung northeast, slamming Georgia, flooding many of South Carolina’s beaches and sending seawater into the streets of downtown Charleston. In North Carolina it poured more than 23 cm of rain on Whiteville, which flooded downtown buildings.

Thousands of utility line workers rushed to restore power in Florida but nearly 95,000 customers were still without electricity on Friday morning. The storm had moved away from the US coast early Thursday and spun out into the Atlantic, still packing winds of 97 kmph on Friday. It could hit Bermuda on Saturday, bringing heavy rainfall and potential flash flooding to the island, according to the US National Hurricane Center.