Idalia makes landfall in Florida as Category 3 storm

Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Florida's lightly populated Big Bend region on Wednesday as a Category 3 storm with winds of at least 130 mph.

The storm surge could reach up to 15 feet. The Big Bend region is where the peninsula merges into the Panhandle, just southeast of the capital, Tallahassee, and well north of the Tampa metro area.

Hurricane Idalia would be the first major storm to hit the region since Hurricane Easy in 1950.

The National Weather Service in Tallahassee called Idalia "an unprecedented event" since no major hurricanes on record have ever passed through the bay abutting the Big Bend region.