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Wind and rain affecting the area, but people are out and about as usual. PHOTO/KEN JACKSON
Hurricane Idalia, which reached Category 4 intensity overnight, made landfall at 7:45 a.m. at Keaton Beach in Taylor County, just southeast of Perry as a Category 3 storm with 125 mph maximum sustained winds. It was a "historical landfall for the Big Bend region of Florida" with nothing else to compare to it in the last century.
Schools, government, utility and other similar offices are closed around the county. There will be no solid waste pickup on Wednesday. Businesses were asked Tuesday if they'd be open today and much the same answer: "We don't know." (Wednesday morning edit: appears many stores and eateries in downtown Kissimmee are open.)
Osceola Sheriff Marcos Lopez said he's received no reports of storm damage. Some of LYNX's bus routes began running again at 9 a.m. and the whole system (except for Access LYNX, which will run life-sustaining routes only Wednesday) should be back up by 11 a.m. Kissimmee Utility Authority is reporting no outages as of 9 a.m.
Parts of eastern Osceola County are already approaching five inches of rain, and the National Weeather Service issued a Flood Advisory for portions of Osceola County thru 11:15am. Minor flood concerns will continue in Kissimmee & Saint Cloud as rain bands from Idalia move over the area.
Numerous feeder bands will still be rolling through the county throughout the day, bringing brief heavy rain and gusty winds. As of about 8:30 a.m. another line was moving northeast out of Highlands and Polk County toward Osceola County. The area is under a Tornado Watch until 3 p.m. and remains under a Tropical Storm Warning, so remain vigilant.
