Photo: Casey DeSantis
An "ancient" oak tree that stood for over a century on the front lawn of the Florida governor's mansion in Tallahassee has collapsed from Hurricane Idalia's fearsome winds, according to WFLA. Gov. Ron DeSantis' wife, Casey, posted about the shocking incident on X (formerly Twitter) Wednesday morning (August 30) along with a picture of the split-open tree.
“100-year-old oak tree falls on the Governor’s Mansion in Tallahassee — Mason, Madison, Mamie and I were home at the time, but thankfully no one was injured," she wrote. "Our prayers are with everyone impacted by the storm."
Gov. DeSantis also assured everyone he, his wife, and his children were "fine" while delivering an update about Idalia's destruction.
“In fact, [Casey] called me about 45 minutes ago and told me, this is a really, I guess, ancient oak tree split in half and part of it fell," he said. "I don’t know that it fell on the residence per se, I think it was a little bit off to the side, so that’s going to have to be cleared."
Hurricane Idalia made landfall as a Category 3 monster near Keaten Beach around 8 a.m., bringing devastating gales and storm surges across northwestern Florida. Search and rescue teams are underway as people begin to survey the immense damages.