Last Wednesday, Aug. 30, Florida was hit by America’s most recent nightmare. Hurricane Idalia came barging in swiftly while leaving severe damage in her path.
According to a recent AP News article written by Terry Spencer, Idalia made landfall as a Category three hurricane reaching maximum winds of 125 mph While Idalia may have made most of its damage in a mostly rural area, it still managed to have devastating effects on surrounding Florida areas. Many roads were completely flooded, with severe storms splitting trees in half and ripping roofs off buildings.
Thousands of Florida residents continue to remain without any power.
Florida officials have confirmed several deaths that were caused by the extensive damage from Hurricane Idalia.
Florida, however, was not the only state to be affected by Hurricane Idalia. Georgia also received some severe storms last week as a result of the hurricane. According to Terry Spencer’s article, “It weakened to a tropical storm by late Wednesday afternoon, and its winds had dropped to 60 mph by Wednesday night.”
Surprisingly, the damage caused by Hurricane Idalia was not the only shock to Florida residents. After Idalia made its way through Florida, several bird sightings were reported. It’s not uncommon for birds to get caught traveling with a hurricane landing in Florida; however, the appearance of over 70 flamingos sure did shock a couple of people. What was even stranger about the bird’s appearance is that they did not only appear in Florida.
According to USA Today writer, Dinah Voyles Pulver, “By Saturday however, three days after landfall, flamingo sightings had been reported in Alabama, South and North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia.”
The birds have been confirmed to have come from Yucatan. Bird specialists are crossing their fingers in the hopes that the flamingos will decide to remain in Florida just long enough to repopulate. The population of flamingos in Florida is very limited and if these flamingos were to multiply, scientists would have more available information to study.
