Hurricane Ian: Waves flood roads in Key West as storm strengthens to category 4
Hurricane Ian, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the US, roared ashore in southwest Florida on Wednesday, turning streets into rivers as it knocked out power to 1.8 million people.
Destructive waves slammed into the southwest coast from Englewood to Bonita Beach including Charlotte Harbor, near the town of Punta Gorda, north of Fort Myers. As Ian plods across Florida in the next 24 hours, it is expected to drop 12 -18 inches of rain on top of coastal surges.
A coastal sheriff’s office reported receiving calls from people trapped in flooded homes. Several took to social media, sharing videos of debris-covered water sloshing towards their homes as they pleaded for rescue.
The storm surge flooded a lower-level emergency room in Port Charlotte, while part of the roof on a fourth-floor intensive care unit was torn down by fierce winds, according to a doctor working there.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis urged Floridians to hunker down, noting that it would be a “nasty” couple of days.
Ian swamps southwest Florida, trapping people in homes
Hurricane Ian slammed the coast of Florida with 150mph (241kph) winds, trapping several people in their homes as streets turned to rivers.
More than 1.8 million Florida homes and businesses were left without electricity and nearly every home and business in three counties was without power.
Mark Pritchett stepped outside his home in Venice around the time the hurricane churned ashore from the Gulf of Mexico, about 35 miles to the south. He called it “terrifying”.
“I literally couldn’t stand against the wind,” Mr Pritchett wrote in a text message. “Rain shooting like needles. My street is a river. Limbs and trees down. And the worst is yet to come.”
Read more in this report:
Hurricane Ian, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the U.S., swamped southwest Florida, flooding streets and buildings, knocking out power to 1.8 million people and threatening catastrophic damage further inland
NOAA administrator dodges question linking Hurricane Ian to climate crisis
ICYMI: As Ian approached the US, Jamie Rohme, the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Hurricane Center, raised some eyebrows on Tuesday when he seemed to demur about linking the storm to the climate crisis during an interview on CNN.
Josh Marcus has the story.
Scientific consensus says climate crisis will make extreme weather worse
ICYMI: Fallen power line catches fire in Naples as Hurricane Ian rages
Fallen power line catches fire in Naples as Hurricane Ian rages
Hurricane Ian: Roofs ripped off homes as eye of storm makes landfall
Hurricane Ian: Roofs ripped off homes as eye of storm makes landfall
TikTokers livestream devastation as category 4 storm makes landfall in Florida
ICYMI: Citizen weather reporters are sharing their daring clips of Hurricane Ian on TikTok, transfixing millions of viewers.
Bevan Hurley has the story.
Citizen weather reporters are sharing their daring clips of Hurricane Ian on TikTok, transfixing millions of viewers
Ian bringing ‘catastrophic storm surge’ to Florida
According to the latest National Hurricane Center update at 8pm ET, “Ian Continuing to Batter the Florida Peninsula With Catastrophic Storm Surge, Winds, and Flooding.”
Lee County ‘decimated’ by hurricane says official
Lee County Manager Roger Desjarlais says that the county, which includes Fort Myers and Cape Cora, has been “decimated” by Hurricane Ian.
“I am sad to tell you that while we don’t know the full extent of the damage to Lee County right now, we are beginning to get a sense that our community has been, in some respects, decimated,” he said on Wednesday, according to NBC News.
Hurricane Ian weakens to Category 3 storm
Hurricane Ian has weakened to a Category 3 storm with winds of 125mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Women rescued from waist-deep floodwater as Hurricane Ian swamps Florida
Women rescued from waist-deep floodwater as Hurricane Ian swamps Florida
All 59 cats at Ernest Hemingway’s home in Key West survive storm
The Hemingway Home Museum in Key West says that all 59 of its famous cats have survived Hurricane Ian lashing the island.
“All our cat residents are safe. Hoping all in our community is staying safe,” the museum posted on Facebook on Wednesday.
The author started the feline colony when he lived and wrote at the property, and all 59 current members are of the six-toe variety.