Hurricane Idalia: Tree falls on Ron DeSantis’ house moments after he warned people to stay safe
A 100-year-old oak tree has fallen on the governor of Florida’s mansion as he warned people to stay safe during Hurricane Idalia.
Ron DeSantis’ wife Casey has said family members were home at the time but nobody was injured.
“Our prayers are with everyone impacted by the storm”, she said.
Mr DeSantis had moments earlier given a news conference where he said there had been no deaths as a result of the storm but warned people to stay safe.
He also said 250,000 homes are without power.
Idalia made landfall in Florida as a dangerous Category 3 storm and later crossed into Georgia still as a hurricane.
It was later downgraded to a Category 2 storm as its centre moved towards southern Georgia.
Hurricane Idalia latest – follow live updates
Idalia is now a Category 1 storm but has caused flooding with more water expected at high tide on Wednesday afternoon local time.
Mr DeSantis said during the news conference there have been no deaths as a result of the storm but urged people to stay safe.
“Don’t put your life at risk by doing anything dumb at this point,” he said. “This thing’s powerful. If you’re inside, just hunker down until it gets past you.”
Florida Highway Patrol earlier said two men, aged 40 and 59, had died in separate “weather-related” crashes.
However, Mr DeSantis’ comments suggest the deaths are not being attributed to Idalia.
Meanwhile, a senior Florida official has said businesses have caught fire, roofs have been blown off and two 911 centres temporarily went offline during the storm.
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Power drops as Ron DeSantis gives briefing
The worst impacted city was Perry, where firefighters tackled two blazes and one house “potentially” collapsed, according to Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
Madison County has been hit hard too.
“They have a lot of debris on the ground and about 99% power outages,” he said.
“A couple” of 911 centres went offline for approximately half an hour and there are some “minor backlogs” in the counties of Madison and Taylor, Mr Guthrie added.
“There is no one in distress who has not been taken care of.”
Ken Welch, the mayor of St Petersburg in Florida, said parts of the city have been hit with about 4ft (1.2m) of storm surge.
He added more water is expected at high tide on Wednesday afternoon local time.
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A woman and her dog paddle through waters in St. Pete Beach, Florida. Pic: AP
Floodwaters in Gulfport, Fla., as Hurricane. Pic: AP
Mr Welch says there remains a risk from tornadoes and live downed power lines. No deaths in the city had been reported by late morning although some neighbourhoods were flooded.
Three major bridges, including the Sunshine Skyway across the mouth of Tampa Bay, remained closed.
“Make no mistake, this hurricane left its mark. The reality is we are not done dealing with the consequences of this major storm,” Mr Welch said.
Images show floodwaters have submerged cars and left residential streets under water.
A submerged car in Cedar Key, Florida
Meanwhile, Georgia Governor Brain Kemp has said between nine and 10 inches of rain has fallen in some areas of the state today.
He said some 61,000 people are currently without power.
Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather, said wind gusts of 60mph to 80mph could still do “a lot of damage” in Georgia, according to Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather.
He added that there are a lot of trees in the states affected that could come down and injure people or block roads.
Mr Porter said: “We don’t want people to let their guard down here as this storm continues to be very dangerous.
“Just because the maximum sustained winds of the storm will be coming down, there is still going to remain a significant risk to people.”
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said in a recent statement on X.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
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Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers”, the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
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In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it added.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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Will Trump address parliament on UK state visit?
This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
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