This was last evening (August 29th) from Bev Murphy Wells who lives in The Villages, Florida:.
“The good thing about The Villages, all electric lines are underground and all water have run off canals that takes the water to the ponds where in turn they use that water to water the golf courses. Interesting set up! The bad thing is unless your lot is extra large it’s difficult to install a generator because they need to be installed 20 feet away from any other building.
This morning (August 30th) update: All’s well! So far I haven’t heard about any loss of life which is the upmost importance to me. Idalia hit more in a rural area where there are nature preserves and less population. There could be flooding in that area though. The storm surge in Treasure Island caused flooding. St Pete hit too, especially in the bay area!
Cat3 at landfall
125 winds
16 ft storm surge

This morning From Pat Payne who lives in Naples, Florida:
“This turned into a Cat 3 and maybe a 4 when it comes ashore in the FL panhandle later this morning. Had some heavy rain about 2 pm yesterday here in Naples and now off and on as the bands go through. SW FL was fortunate this time. Relatively low wind of 40 mph max. No surge of any concern. Not damage to property in the area. However, September is our peak hurricane month. The very warm water in the Gulf is like throwing gasoline on a fire.”
“This thing is a monster. Look how tight that eye in as in approaches FL panhandle.”

“Just took our dog for a walk. The wind is about 20 with some gusts. No rain. People are driving to work like a normal day. So besides a heavy rain yesterday, which we needed, we all have let out a sigh, said a prayer for northern Florida, and getting back to normal.”

From David Dibb in Florence, SC:
“In Florence SC we are expecting 20 consecutive hours of rain starting about noon today. Most of that storm is still in Georgia dumping up to 3 inches per hour”