HURRICANE IDALIA MAKES LANDFALL IN FLORIDA #HurricaneIdalia

Millions of residents were evacuated or hunkered down in homes and bunkers as Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Florida's Big Bend region as an "extremely dangerous" Category 3 storm on Wednesday, and authorities warned a life-threatening storm surge was possible.

Drawing strength from the Gulf of Mexico's warm waters, Idalia was forecast to unleash destructive winds and torrential downpours that will cause coastal flooding up to 16 feet (4.88 m) deep.

"Don't put your life at risk by doing anything dumb at this point. This thing's powerful," Governor Ron DeSantis said at an early news briefing in Tallahassee that was interrupted for a few seconds by a power cut.

The NHC said Idalia made landfall at 7:45 a.m. EDT (1145 GMT) at Keaton Beach, an ocean-front community of 13,000 people in Taylor County, about 75 miles (121 km) southeast of Tallahassee, the state capital. It is located in Florida's Big Bend region, where the state's northern Gulf Coast panhandle curves into the western side of the Florida Peninsula.