Videos show Idalia ripping through fences, 'reversing' river on path through Florida

As Hurricane Idalia made its way through northern Florida as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday, powerful winds combined with rain and storm surges to leave a trail of downed trees, damaged property, flooded streets and power outages.

Some remarkable impacts of the historic storm were documented on social media:

The Steinhatchee River appears to reverse direction

About 20 miles south of Keaton Beach, in the Big Bend of Florida, an overflowing Steinhatchee River is inundating the historic coastal town of the same name. Photos and video from the region show streets transformed into their own rivers, with houses and street signs peeking out from the mess.

At one point earlier this morning, the river itself appeared to reverse directions and flow inland, causing sailboats to break free from their moorings and collide with a local bridge.

A river gauge measured an increase from 1 foot to 8 feet in just an hour, the National Weather Service in Tallahassee reported.

“When we say the storm surge threat would increase rapidly, this is what we meant,” the office said.

READ MORE: Recovery efforts, searches begin in the wake of Idalia

Damage along Florida's Nature Coast

With landfall in rural north Florida, Idalia is expected to cause less damage than Hurricane Ian, which hit the Fort Myers area last year. But conducting searches and helping residents can be more time-consuming in sparsely populated areas.

“Up here in the Big Bend, you may have two houses on a five-mile road,” said State Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie 

Idalia was expected to cause significant damage in rural areas such as Levy, Suwannee and Madison counties. Initial reports included Madison County being nearly 100% without electricity and flooding in Levy County’s low-lying Cedar Key, officials said.

Flooding submerged most of the coastal town's downtown area. A tide gauge measured storm surge at 6.8 feet.

“We have multiple trees down, debris in the roads, do not come,” posted the fire and rescue department in Cedar Key. “We have propane tanks blowing up all over the island.”

A close shave at the Governor's Mansion

Idalia's path into Georgia left felled trees and power lines in its wake, including an ancient tree at the Governor's Mansion in Tallahassee.

Crews launched “search, secure and stabilize” recovery efforts after Idalia made landfall about 75 miles southeast of the state capital as a Category 3 storm.

About half of the 500,000 utility customers lost electricity in various parts of the state, DeSantis said. But he said the number of outages could increase.

The Associated Press and NPR contributed to this report.