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Floridians woke up Thursday to flooded homes and uprooted trees as Hurricane Ian lashed the Sunshine State with heavy rain and strong winds after slamming into it as one of the strongest storms in U.S. history.
More than 2.5 million homes and businesses across Florida were without power early Thursday, according to PowerOutage.us.
The storm, which is on track to weaken to a tropical storm, was expected to continue battering the state for most of Thursday before moving toward the Atlantic Ocean. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center say it will then turn northwest toward Georgia and South Carolina.
The storm made landfall as a Category 4 storm Wednesday afternoon, flooding parking lots and leaving residents stranded in their homes with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph, just 7 mph short of a Category 5 hurricane, the most strong on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale. The storm weakened quickly as it moved across Florida and was a Category 1 by Wednesday afternoon, with nearly every home and business in three Florida counties without power.
The storm previously tore through Cuba, killing two people and destroying the country’s power grid. No injuries or deaths have been reported in Florida.
Latest news:
►The U.S. Coast Guard was still searching for more than 20 Cuban migrants after their boat sank in stormy weather near the Florida Keys.
► Ian’s strength in hitting the ground tied him for al fifth strongest hurricane when measured by wind speed to hit the US, it is tied with five other hurricanes that reached 150 mph: two in Florida, two in Louisiana and one in Texas.
► Residents described the terror after a tornado tore through a condominium complex near Delray Beach, tearing off roofs and overturning vehicles. “I felt things go over my head and face,” resident Jim Travis said. “When I opened the door, my flat was destroyed.” Read more
Quick links:
GET TEXT UPDATES: Sign up here for text updates on Hurricane Ian.
HURRICANE IAN TRACKER: Where is Ian going? See the map.
IAN FORECAST: Ian is likely to spend days dumping rain in Florida. Here’s the perspective.
Follower of Hurricane Ian
As Hurricane Ian continues to move through Florida on Thursday, USA TODAY The Hurricane Ian tracker will stay updated and provide the latest look at where the storm is headed.
Hospital roof partially ripped off, fire station flooded: Florida damage
Parts of Florida’s Gulf Coast saw significant damage as Hurricane Ian tore through the state, damaging buildings and homes and flooding communities.
Water rushed through the streets of Naples, creating giant waves that made roads impassable and overwhelmed the city’s fire department. A video released by Naples Fire-Rescue showed crews working to save equipment and fire trucks in more than 3 feet of water. In Cape Coral, about 30 miles offshore, photos showed a sailboat washed up in the middle of a road near homes.
Near Fort Myers saw an intense storm surge flooding coastal communities and the area around WINK News, a local CBS affiliate. The videos showed water hitting the windshields of cars in the studio parking lot and some of the storm surge seeping into the building.
Further north along the coast, a powerful storm surge flooded the emergency room of a lower-level hospital in Port Charlotte, while strong winds tore off part of the roof of its intensive care unit, according to a doctor who works there.
Water poured down from above into the ICU, forcing staff to evacuate the hospital’s sickest patients, some of whom were on ventilators, to other floors, said Dr. Birgit Bodine of HCA Florida Hospital Fawcett. Staff members used towels and plastic bins to try to clean up the mess.
Officials warned that flash flooding was possible across the state, which could lead to contamination and an overflow of radioactive waste.
What is the wind speed scale?:Breakdown of the wind speed scale for hurricanes.
How does Hurricane Ian compare?:Category 5 hurricanes are rare. Is Ian’s punch the worst America has seen?
Contributors: Kate Cimini, USA Today Network-Florida; Associated Press
