Florida Power Cuts Hit Ron DeSantis' Idalia News Briefing

The lights flickered as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was giving an update on Hurricane Idalia on Wednesday morning.

The outage in Tallahassee lasted about 10 seconds before generators kicked in. "There we go with our power here," DeSantis said as the power went out.

Over 200,000 customers are currently without power in the state, according to poweroutage.us, after Idalia made landfall in Florida's Big Bend region at around 7:45 a.m. ET as a Category 3 storm.

DeSantis urged Floridians to stay in their homes as the National Hurricane Center in Miami warned of "catastrophic" storm surge, which could reach up to 16 feet, and "damaging" sustained winds estimated to reach speeds of 125 miles per hour.

"That level of storm surge is life-threatening," DeSantis said at Wednesday morning's news conference. "Do not go outside in the midst of the storm. If it's calm where you are, it may be because you are in the eye of the storm and those conditions will change very, very quickly.

"So wherever you are, hunker down and don't take anything for granted here. This is a very, very powerful storm," he said.

Idalia grew into a Category 2 system on Tuesday afternoon and became a Category 3 earlier on Wednesday before strengthening to a Category 4 storm. It then weakened slightly to make landfall as a high-end Category 3 storm. The National Weather Service in Tallahassee called Idalia "an unprecedented event" since no major hurricanes on record have ever passed through Apalachee Bay.

Idalia was expected to weaken as it moved across Florida but may still be a hurricane when it hits southern Georgia later on Wednesday, the hurricane center said.

Florida residents living in vulnerable coastal areas were ordered to pack up and leave as Idalia neared the state. Evacuation orders were issued in at least 30 counties in western and central Florida, with mandatory orders for some people in 18 of those counties.

About 5,500 National Guard troops were activated, with 2,400 high-water vehicles and 14 aircraft at their disposal for rescue and recovery efforts. President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Florida ahead of Idalia's arrival.

The hurricane could have a devastating effect on Florida, which is still recovering from Hurricane Ian, which came ashore as a Category 4 storm in September of last year. Ian caused more than $112 billion in damage and was responsible for more than 150 deaths, directly or indirectly.

Update 8/30/23, 9:04 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.