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Video from Florida during Hurricane Idalia
Landon Schaeffer chased Idalia to a rural area just southeast of Perry, Florida. There, he says he got inside the eye of the Category 3 hurricane.
HOUSTON - A storm chaser from Houston is sending back new video from his experience inside the eye of Hurricane Idalia.
Landon Schaeffer chased Idalia to a rural area just southeast of Perry, Florida. There, he says he got inside the eye of the Category 3 hurricane.
CONTINUING COVERAGE: Idalia's wrath continues across Southeast with flooding in Charleston following historic Florida landfall
"The eye was already starting to collapse," said Schaeffer. "It was very dirty. Sometimes you’d have relatively short lulls where it’s not gusting very well. Then, you’d have a ferocious gust come through."
Idalia made landfall early Wednesday morning as a Category 3 major hurricane. The strong storm surge, heavy rain, and fierce winds left a path of destruction across Florida and Georgia. More than 400,000 people across the Southeast lost power Wednesday.
In Schaeffer’s video, debris can be seen flying across the screen like a speeding bullet.
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Video from Florida during Hurricane Idalia
Landon Schaeffer chased Idalia to a rural area just southeast of Perry, Florida. There, he says he got inside the eye of the Category 3 hurricane.
"When you see debris flying around like that, that’s a risk," said Schaeffer. "With the wind especially, when it peaks with the storm, that’s when you have to hunker down and don’t go outside."
Several volunteer groups from the Houston-area are on standby, ready to help Florida towns hit hard by the storm.
On Wednesday evening, search and recovery efforts were well underway across Florida.
For Schaeffer, this was the eighth hurricane he has chased, and the seventh time he’s made it inside the storm’s eye. He chases historic weather events across the United States and Canada.
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Schaeffer, and his group of storm chasers were driving back to Houston from Florida Wednesday evening.
"I love storm chasing," said Schaeffer. "To see the raw brunt power of Mother Nature in person. It’s [unbelievable]."