PERRY, FL (AP) — Hurricane Idalia left a trail of flooding and destruction along Florida’s Gulf Coast. Rescue and repair efforts continue in the areas the storm passed Wednesday. State and county leaders are still trying to assess the full extent of the damage from the ferocious winds and inundating waters.

After traveling across the Gulf of Mexico, Idalia came ashore Wednesday morning near Keaton Beach, pummeling Florida’s remote and rural Big Bend region with powerful winds clocking in at 125 mph, a Category 3.

Jewell Baggett finds a lit green light amidst the debris strewn across the yard where her mother’s home had stood, as she searches for anything salvageable from Hurricane Idalia, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. Courtesy: AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell
A set of concrete steps carried by storm waters from another building sits amidst the wreckage of a home originally owned by the late grandparents of Jewell Baggett. Courtesy: AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell
In this photo made in a flight provided by mediccorps.org, the remains of a destroyed home built atop a platform on piles are seen in Keaton Beach, FL, in the wake of Hurricane Idalia, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. Courtesy: AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell
Pick-up trucks and debris lie strewn in a canal in Horseshoe Beach, FL, after the passage of Hurricane Idalia, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. Courtesy: AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell
Debris from destroyed buildings chokes a canal in Horseshoe Beach, FL, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. Courtesy: AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell
Debris is littered around the damaged Regency Inn Perry in Perry, FL, following Hurricane Idalia, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. Courtesy: AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell
In this photo made in a flight provided by mediccorps.org, a road cuts through a flooded area south of Perry, FL, following the passage of Hurricane Idalia, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. Courtesy: AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

The area, where the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula, saw streets turned into rivers that submerged cars and homes, while the howling winds tore off roofs, snapped tall trees, sent sheet metal flying and shredded homes.

“All hell broke loose,” said Belond Thomas of Perry, a mill town located just inland from the Big Bend region. Thomas fled with her family and some friends to a motel, thinking it would be safer than riding out the storm at home but the roof was torn away and debris showered onto her pregnant daughter, who fortunately wasn’t injured, Thomas said.

At Horseshoe Beach in central Big Bend, Jewell Baggett picked through the wreckage and debris of her mother’s destroyed home, finding a few pictures and her mother’s pots and pans. Her grandfather built the home decades ago and it had survived four previous storms, she said. “And now it’s gone,” she said. “Nothing left. A few little trinkets here and there.” Baggett, whose mother had left before the storm hit, said at least five or six other homes also were destroyed.

In Tallahassee, the power went out well before the center of the storm arrived, but the city avoided a direct hit. A giant oak tree next to the governor’s mansion split in half, covering the yard with debris.

More than 30,000 utility workers gathered to repair downed power lines and poles. At one point, the storm left as many as a half-million customers without power in the Sunshine State and others in its path.

By comparison to last year’s Hurricane Ian, Idalia is less destructive, providing only glancing blows to Tampa Bay and other more populated areas. State officials, 5,500 National Guardsman and rescue crews went into search-and-recovery mode, inspecting bridges, clearing toppled trees and looking for anyone in distress.

No hurricane-related deaths were officially confirmed in Florida, but the state’s highway patrol reported two people killed in separate weather-related crashes just hours before Idalia made landfall.