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Small Business

Georgia (and Florida) on My Mind

Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Florida early Wednesday morning as a Category 3 hurricane, and with sustained winds of 125 mph or greater. As of noon Eastern time, the hurricane was still a Category 1, and moving over southern Georgia.

Isaac M. O'Bannon

Aug. 30, 2023

Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Florida early Wednesday morning as a Category 3 hurricane, and with sustained winds of 125 mph or greater. As of noon Eastern time, the hurricane was still a Category 1, and moving over southern Georgia.

As a reminder: Even if you have business activities with people or entities in either state, don’t call them today or likely even this week. If they are available and have the time and resources, they will call you. Tying up the phone lines won’t help anyone right now.

The center of Idalia made landfall in the Big Bend area of the Florida Gulf Coast near Kenton Beach, at 8am. National Weather Service and National Hurricane Center officials said it was the first major hurricane to pass through the area since records have been kept, starting in the late 1800s. https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at5.shtml

Hurricane and tropical storm warnings are now posted for most of the southern part of Georgia, as well as parts of South and North Carolina, where “significant storm surge will continue,” the agency stated. “Areas of flash, urban and moderate river flooding, with considerable impacts, are expected form portions of North Florida through central Georgia and South Carolina, through eastern North Carolina, into Thursday.”

More than 230,000 homes and businesses have lost power since the storm made landfall, and many areas are under states of emergency.