A 100-year-old oak tree falls on the Florida governor’s mansion, Casey DeSantis says

A 100-year-old tree oak fell on the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee, Florida, as Hurricane Idalia made landfall within the space, mentioned Casey DeSantis, spouse of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The state’s first woman mentioned she was contained in the mansion with their three kids, Madison, Mason and Mamie, when it occurred, however nobody was injured. 

“Our prayers are with everybody impacted by the storm,” she wrote in a tweet, sharing a photograph of the enormous tree that had cut up by way of its trunk.

The unique mansion, which is simply blocks from the Florida State Capitol, was in-built 1907 after which rebuilt in 1955 after it had change into structurally unsound. It’s on the Nationwide Register of Historic Locations and was designed by Palm Seaside architect Sims Wyeth in a Greek Revival type. 

Gov. DeSantis, who additionally a GOP candidate for president, moved into the mansion along with his household when he was elected to the workplace in 2019. He has been giving common information conferences from Tallahassee in the course of the storm, and mentioned he had been knowledgeable in regards to the tree’s collapse.

By noon Wednesday, the attention of the storm had moved on from Florida ito Georgia, however the storm’s bands had been nonetheless impacting the state, significantly within the north, and flooding was anticipated to worsen because the tide rose Wednesday afternoon. Greater than 250,000 clients had been with out of energy. 

Individuals in 28 Florida counties had been both ordered or really useful to evacuate forward of Idalia — primarily alongside the Gulf Coast in areas at highest threat of utmost floods from the storm. 

The storm made landfall as a Class 3 Wednesday morning at Keaton Seaside within the Huge Bend space — the area the place the Florida peninsula meets the panhandle. Keaton Seaside is about 90 minutes from Tallahassee.

Storm surge in some areas was anticipated to succeed in as excessive as 12 to 16 toes, the Nationwide Hurricane Middle mentioned. Movies and pictures confirmed the speeding floodwaters rising in coastal neighborhoods. 

Tallahassee, which is within the northern a part of the state, isn’t an evacuation zone. The storm, nevertheless, handed over that space, inflicting harm like downed bushes.

Nationwide Climate Service Tallahassee warned about flash flooding in close by Valdosta, Remerton and Dasher, Georgia. The Metropolis of Tallahassee also warned of energy outages that will affect visitors alerts.

Tallahassee had been forecast to obtain wind gusts as much as 35 mph in the course of the storm and the Nationwide Climate Service warned of the chance of harm and doubtlessly impassable roads because of downed bushes and particles.