Ron DeSantis' Florida Home Damaged in Hurricane Idalia

A 100-year-old oak tree fell on the governor's mansion in Tallahassee Wednesday as Hurricane Idalia bore down on the Florida coast Wednesday.

As Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was meeting with reporters to discuss the state's response to the August 30 storm, the tree appeared to split under duress from the storm's high winds, a photo shared by his wife, Casey, showed, falling on top of one of the wings of the house.

While Casey DeSantis and their children—Mason, Madison and Mamie—were in the home at the time, "no one was injured" during the event, she wrote on social media after the incident.

The extent of damage to the house, which was initially built in 1907 before a new version was erected in the mid-1950s, is currently unknown.

Located directly in the hurricane's path, however, the Tallahassee residence was highlighted early on as one of the areas in northern Florida that was told to prepare for potentially life-threatening conditions prior to the storm making landfall.

Photos and videos from the hurricane have so far shown significant flooding in downtown Tallahassee, while more than 272,000 customers statewide had lost power as of 12:50 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. Most, however, already had their power restored by the time DeSantis delivered remarks later in the afternoon.

Idalia's path was also considered a meteorological rarity: few hurricanes ever take a path directly through the bend of the state. And Idalia, a category three storm when it made landfall, was unexpectedly strong, bringing wind conditions to the state capital experts described as "unprecedented" in the region's history.

"Looking back through recorded history, NO major hurricanes have ever moved through the Apalachee Bay," forecasters posted on the National Weather Service website Tuesday. "When you try to compare this storm to others, DON'T. No one has seen this."

Newsweek has reached out to the governor's office as well as the Florida Department of Management Services for comment. However asked by reporters for comment after being informed the storm had damaged his home, DeSantis—a leading candidate for the Republican nomination for president—appeared to take the question in stride.

"We're fine," he told reporters as he described a phone conversation he'd had with his wife earlier in the day about the tree. "I don't know that [the tree] fell on the residence, per se, I think it was a little off to the side, so that's going to be cleared.

"I don't know if they're going to have to cut down the whole tree," he added. "If they do cut down the whole tree, it's going to be more room for our kids to hit baseballs in. So in some respects, even though the tree was nice, we'll probably make do."