Hurricane Idalia caused significant damage, power outages, and flooding across the southeastern United States, with at least three reported deaths and a substantial impact on the region’s infrastructure.

The hot Florida sunshine is broken by a gentle breeze, carrying with it salty sea air.

But the mood is anything but idyllic as the town of Keaton Beach assesses the damage from Hurricane Idalia, which left overturned trees and destroyed homes in its wake after making landfall nearby Wednesday morning.

“I think we fared very well compared to our neighbor friends who are missing part of their roof,” says Laurie Brenner, returning home after evacuating ahead of the storm.

“We have siding damage, but so far, I’m glad to see the house is still standing,” the 57-year-old hairdresser adds.

As Idalia weakened to a tropical storm later Wednesday and continues to dump rain and cause flooding across the southeastern United States, residents who left are trickling back. The state of Florida is only just starting to put together the total cost of the wreckage.

According to news reports, at least three people were killed in Idalia-related incidents. Hundreds of thousands of customers lost power.

In Perry, Idalia’s winds took down trees and power lines and damaged the facades of houses and stores.

Still, many residents were relieved that the damage wasn’t worse.

Florida began assessing the damage Wednesday from Idalia’s flooding after the powerful storm inundated coastal communities and knocked out power to thousands, as the system advanced up the southeastern US coast, bringing additional rain deluges and dangerous storm surge.

They described Idalia and its record-high surging waters as a once-in-a-lifetime event for the area of northwest Florida most affected.

State officials said first responders, including search and rescue teams, were operational but warned it could take time to reach more remote areas blocked by fallen trees or high water.

Idalia struck as an “extremely dangerous” Category 3 hurricane in Florida’s marshy, sparsely populated Big Bend area around 7:45 am (1145 GMT) Wednesday, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported.

Miroslava Salazar, with AFP