Tropical Storm — Coastal Camden, Georgia

2023-08-30 · Coastal Camden, Georgia

Event narrative

On 8/29 at 1403, a funnel cloud was reported about 2 miles NNE of Kingsland.

Tropical cyclone winds impacted the county on 8/30. At 1245, a mesonet station about 3 miles W of

Woodbine measured a wind gust of 40 mph. At 1401, a mesonet site at the Camden County Welcome Center

near GA Highway 356 and Interstate 95 measured a wind gust of 50 mph. At 1425, broadcast media reported

a tree fell onto a powerline which triggered a fire in the attic of the Episcopal Diocese of GA Retreat Center.

At 1515, a mesonet station about 3 miles W of Woodbine measured a wind gust of 44 mph. Evacuations were ordered for

Zone A in Camden County, which consists of

Cumberland Island and Little Cumberland Island.

Hurricane Idalia made landfall Wednesday morning August 30th around 745 AM EDT along the

Florida Big Bend near Keaton Beach as a category 3, with the inner core moving NE across the

Suwannee River Valley. The inner wind core of Idalia gradually weakened through the morning while,

heavily impacting Suwannee and Hamilton counties in NE Florida and Echols county SE Georgia as the

circulation tracked NE. Widespread tree, power line and structure damage occurred across Suwannee

and Hamilton counties, with estimated winds of 80-100 mph based on damage surveys with isolated

pockets of peak wind gusts near major hurricane strength. Outer rainbands on the eastside of Idalia

impacted all of SE Georgia and NE FL through the day, with early morning tornadoes across coastal SE

Georgia and widespread tropical cyclone wind gusts through the day causing tree damage and power

line damage at least somewhere across NE Florida and SE Georgia. Measured gusts during the peak of

the hurricane acorss the local forecast area were 60-80 mph. Flooding rainfall impacted locations in

the direct path of the weakening inner core across the Suwannee River Valley and southeast Georgia,

especially from eastern Hamilton county toward Baxley and Jesup GA. The peak rainfall amounts were

up to 5-8 inches. At least 3 tornadoes occurred in southeast GA as rainbands swept northwestward

ahead of the hurricane.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1126560. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.