Little damage reported as Idalia passes north of Alachua County

Alachua County was largely spared Wednesday from the wrath of Hurricane Idalia thanks to the monster storm's slight shift west as the week progressed.

The move put the county on the south side of the storm and away from the most severe winds and torrential rainfall that hammered the Big Bend area.

Idalia roared ashore as a Category 3 storm just before 8 a.m. near Keaton Beach, which is about a two-hour drive from Gainesville and just 20 miles north of Steinhatchee.

Despite the storm's shift, local officials still planned for hurricane-force winds, though gusts peaked at just 55 mph.

The majority of the damage locally could be seen in the form of downed trees and power lines.

Alachua County Public Works Director Ramon Gavarrete said Wednesday afternoon that his office had received 70 reports of downed trees in the area.

“When it comes to trees you know Alachua County is ‘Tree County,’“ he said.

The county had 32 crew members in the field Wednesday morning clearing debris from roads and another 10 in the command center. Gavarrete said he expected a second shift of 20 crew members and six in the command center to work into the late evening to clear the remaining trees.

Some of the trees landed on power lines, including one in Archer on Southwest 159th Terrace that kept residents from leaving their homes, and another one that blocked Northwest 133rd Street from 39th Avenue. A large tree in High Springs came within feet of damaging the Summit Baptist Church building, at 210 NE Santa Fe Blvd.

Power was being restored quickly in Gainesville after GRU reported nearly 8,000 customers without electricity in the morning. About four hours later, that number was reduced to about 500. Clay Electric was dealing with most of the outages on the west side of the county, with about 9,100 customers without power midday Wednesday.

Rain, but no flood

The county received no reports of flooding.

"This system was not really a rain event," Gavarrete said.

More: Live updates: Hurricane Idalia impact on Alachua County

Though no direct injuries were reported as a result of the storm, a 59-year-old Gainesville man was killed in a single-vehicle crash early Wednesday morning. The FHP report notes that the man was driving in "extremely rainy conditions."

With the county suffering little damage, officials were already looking to help those who were not so lucky.

"We stand ready to send mutual-aid support to the parts of the state that did have it a lot worse than us," Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward said.

Earlier in the day, Gainesville Fire Rescue was preparing its Urban Search and Rescue task force for possible deployment to Marion County.

Back to school

Local residents should expect business as usual on Thursday.

Alachua County Public Schools, the University of Florida and Santa Fe College all announced Wednesday that normal class schedules will be held after all three ceased operations on Tuesday ahead of Idalia's arrival.

"UF faculty have been asked to remain flexible with students who may have been affected by Hurricane Idalia," a university news release said.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Gainesville and Alachua County spared by Hurricane Idalia