Los Angeles, Aug 31 (IANS): Hurricane Idalia roared into the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall in the US state of Florida on Wednesday, bringing severe damages on its path.

Idalia, which made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday, became the first major hurricane to enter Apalachee Bay since modern record-keeping started in 1851, according to the US National Weather Service office in Tallahassee, the state capital.

Officials in Florida have issued evacuation orders for 22 counties in the state with mandatory evacuations along the coast of the Big Bend region -- where Florida's panhandle curves to meet the peninsula, and where Idalia is forecasted to make landfall, Xinhua news agency reported.

Idalia is now lashing Georgia after slamming Florida's Big Bend region.

Significant impacts from storm surge will continue along the Gulf coast of Florida through Wednesday evening, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center.

Damaging winds will occur where the core of Idalia moves across southern Georgia and southern South Carolina within the hurricane warning area through Wednesday evening, according to the forecast.

The Biden administration has mobilized more than 1,500 federal personnel and more than 540 urban search and rescue team personnel who are on the ground, according to the US Federal Emergency Management Agency.