Idalia barreled through southeastern United States Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane, flooding coastal communities, before weaking into a tropical storm.

Since its landfall in the sparsely populated Big Bend area of Florida early Wednesday, Idalia left a trail of destruction and flooding as it moved westward through Georgia and South Carolina.

In coastal Steinhatchee, about 32 kilometers south of Idalia's landfall in Keaton Beach, streets were mostly deserted hours after the storm inundated virtually the entire town, CNN reported.

Tampa Bay saw its rivers, lakes and bay waters rise as much as 6 feet above normal in some spots, according to the National Weather Service, Tampa Bay Times reported.

"All along Tampa Bay's waterfronts, from Apollo Beach to Tarpon Springs, Idalia's near-record storm surge pushed past seawalls, flooded parks and yards and turned busy roads into rivers," according to TBT.

Around 147,000 utility customers in Florida, 133,000 in Georgia and 34,000 in South Carolina were without electricity early Thursday, according to tracking website PowerOutage.us.

A house surrounded by floodwater caught fire in St. Petersburg's Shore Acres neighborhood but rescuers in small boats saved its homeowner and 75 others in distress.

In Charleston, South Carolina, Emergency Management Director Ben Almquist reported "plenty of floodwaters throughout the city" and some ongoing rescues, according to CNN.

Tropical-storm-force winds will continue to affect portions of the southeastern US coast through Thursday, CNN added.

Idalia is forecast to blow out over the Atlantic later Thursday.

WITH AFP