Windsurfer who went missing during Hurricane Idalia is found dead
Greggory Johnston, 60, went missing off Florida‘s Space Coast on Wednesday
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Your support makes all the difference.The body of windsurfer who went missing during Hurricane Idalia has been found, officials have said.
Greggory Johnston, 60, went missing off Florida‘s Space Coast on Wednesday, the day after Hurricane Idalia made landfall with 125 mph (201 kph) winds last week.
His car was found in the area of Kelly Park, where crews began their search for the man.
The 60-year-old is now considered the second death caused by Idalia in Florida.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement said a medical examiner’s report shows Johnston drowned while windsurfing during a tropical storm warning.
Johnston board and windsurfing sail were recovered on the eastern shore of the Banana river, across from Kelly Park on Thursday morning.
The other Idalia-related death in Florida confirmed by the state’s 25 local district medical examiners was in Gainesville, but officials didn’t release details.
A man in Valdosta, Georgia, also died when a tree fell on him as he tried to clear another tree out of the road, according to the Lowndes County Sheriff Office.
Idalia ploughed into Florida as a Category 3 hurricane on 30 August before losing power as it moved inland through Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.
At around 5pm on 2 September the National Hurricane Center issued what it said was its final advisory on Idalia, noting that the post-tropical cyclone had moved away off Bermuda and that the storm warning for the island was discontinued.
The storm ripped through houses and businesses, causing an estimated $9.36bn of damage, based on early estimates from UBS, a risk analysis firm.
Meanwhile, Accuweather predicted the total damage could be somewhere between $18bn and $20bn.
Idalia also caused devastating flooding and decimated the town of Steinhatchee, Florida.
The river that runs through the town rose 8 feet on the morning of 30 August, according to the National Weather Service, and flooded the town less than 20 miles from where Idalia made landfall.
Officials urged the 500 residents of the coastal community to evacuate the town on 29 August ahead of the storm surge.
The following morning, Hurricane Idalia has been downgraded to a tropical storm the National Hurricane Center reported.
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