“President Joe Biden made separate calls to the Mayors of Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Sarasota and the Chair of Charlotte County, Florida to let them know their communities have the full force of the Federal government behind them as Hurricane Ian makes landfall in Florida,” said the White House. Source: NASA.
Parts of Florida are being battered by Hurricane Ian which made landfall late yesterday afternoon, bringing destructive winds and heavy rainfall.
Residents of Florida’s southwestern coast have seen winds of up to 220km/h and a storm surge of 12 to 18 feet (3-5m) with millions of homes now without power.
Fort Myers up to Tampa were some of the first places to feel the brunt of the storm.
Hurricane winds will continue to move into central Florida while a severe storm surge is predicted for northeast Florida and surrounding states.
Life-threatening flooding has been seen in these parts with homes ripped of their foundations and floating down streets along with cars and masses of debris. Some parts have seen or are expected to experience up to 509 millimetres of rainfall.
We were in the eye wall of Cat. 4 #Hurricane #Ian for over 5 hours and the back side was the worst.
I haven't experienced anything close to this in over 30 years @weatherchannel pic.twitter.com/wfEqcuEBAm— Mike Seidel (@mikeseidel) September 29, 2022
The National Hurricane Center are expecting there to be major to record river flooding and will spread into parts of central Florida, south-eastern Georgia, and eastern Carolina.
Some are calling this one of the worst Hurricanes the US has ever experienced including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis who said, “this is going to be a nasty day, two days”.
He also said that Florida has “fleets of highwater vehicles, 42,000 linemen, 7,000 National Guardsman and 179 aircraft” on standby to help.
Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson spoke to CNN and said that he’s never seen anything like Hurricane Ian.
“I’ve been here since the mid-70s, this is actually-by far- the worst storm I have ever seen.”
Over 176 shelters and 50 special needs shelters have been set up across the state as many Floridians were asked to evacuate their area.
Evacuation orders were set in place earlier in the week but authorities have warned that it’s too late to leave for those who stayed behind.
Instead they’ve urged these people to seek higher ground and hunker down with the National Weather Service saying residents should treat Ian “like you would treat a tornado approaching your home”.
The power of water is nothing to underestimate 😳 https://t.co/s5xDwrbLsy
— Torry Gaucher (@TorryGaucher) September 29, 2022
Since making landfall, Ian has been downgraded to a Category 3 system and is seeing winds of about 185km/h.
Cuba is only just starting to regain power, after Ian pummelled through western parts of the country earlier in the week. It’s been reported that two people were killed after 205 km/h winds brought mass devastation to the area.
