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Ian was expected to make landfall Friday afternoon off the coast of South Carolina after strengthening into a Category 1 hurricane Thursday night. It will then move inland and into North Carolina on Saturday .
Meanwhile, Florida officials were assessing damage and continuing search and rescue efforts after Ian made landfall in the Fort Myers area Wednesday as a Category 4 storm. There were 21 deaths, but the director of management of Florida Emergency Management Kevin Guthrie said Friday that only one was confirmed as a result of the storm. Officials were still assessing the cause of the other 20 deaths.
Crews had made 700,000 rescues as of Friday morning, officials said at a news conference Friday. About 1.9 million customers were without power in the morning, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday.
The day before, he called the storm a “500-year flood event” and said Coast Guard helicopters were plucking trapped residents from their rooftops. Communities across the state were or will be inundated by the overwhelming waters.
“The impacts of this storm are historic and the damage that has been done is historic,” DeSantis said. “We’ve never seen a flood like this, we’ve never seen a storm surge of this magnitude.”
Latest news:
►In South Carolina, President Joe Biden declared an emergency and ordered federal assistance, according to the White House.
►Hurricane Ian’s losses so far range from $25 billion to $40 billion, credit agency Fitch Ratings reported Thursday.
►At least nine people were rescued after a boat carrying more than 20 migrants sank in stormy weather near the Florida Keys. Friday, the Coast Guard said one person’s body was recovered near Ocean Edge Marina
►Tampa and Orlando airports were expected to reopen Friday, while Fort Myers Airport in southwest Florida remained closed Friday. More than 1,660 flights were canceled Friday because of the storm, according to FlightAware.
In Charleston, strong gusts of wind and rain as Ian approached
By Friday morning, heavy rain and tropical storm conditions had already reached the coasts of Georgia and the Carolinas, where life-threatening swell and hurricane conditions were expected to develop. Rainfall of up to 8 inches threatened flooding from South Carolina to Virginia, the National Weather Service reported.
Forecasters expected conditions to steadily deteriorate in Charleston Friday morning, when Ian was 105 miles south-southeast of the coastal city with winds of 85 mph. Traffic had cleared the streets, silencing the typical bustling morning commute before the storm.
Some areas had already received 2 to 3 inches of rain by 8 a.m., and “some flooding” had begun to inundate downtown Charleston as heavy rain fell amid rising water levels. tide, said Steven Taylor, senior meteorologist for the National Weather Service. in Charleston.
Wind gusts were seen along the Charleston County coast between 50 and 60 mph, and the area could see 4 to 7 feet of flooding Friday, Taylor said. “We recently had a wind gust of up to 66 mph on the south end of Folly Beach and the winds continue to increase throughout the area,” Taylor told USA TODAY.
The center of Ian is expected to travel northeast of Charleston by Friday afternoon, and forecasters expect the storm to weaken as it moves into North Carolina.
“We expect conditions to improve pretty quickly as it moves north, and we expect things to start to calm down pretty quickly tonight,” Taylor said.
Follower of Hurricane Ian
After moving slowly through Florida, Hurricane Ian gained new strength over the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday before wreaking havoc in South Carolina, Georgia and other states along the East Coast. Check here for the latest updates on the strength of the storms and track where it’s headed.
As of 8 a.m. Friday, Ian was about 105 miles south-southeast of Charleston and moving north at 9 mph with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph, the hurricane center said.
Fort Myers Beach ‘gone’ after Hurricane Ian damage
Fort Myers Beach took the brunt of Hurricane Ian’s assault on the Florida coast. The Category 4 storm brought winds of 150 miles per hour and a towering storm surge through the center of the city. On Thursday, neighbors began to see what could be salvaged from the wreckage.
“I think mine is going to be a total loss,” Joy McCormack said as she stood across the road from a stretch of mobile homes, townhouses and condos that were knee-deep in floodwaters. “It’s the only home I have and if it’s gone…” She trailed off.
For Mitch Stough and his brother, Fort Myers Beach was their livelihood. Now, it has been totally destroyed. Stough worked at the iconic Lani Kai resort and said the storm surge stripped the first floor of the vacation spot to its structural elements.
“There’s nothing,” Stough said. “Fort Myers Beach is gone.” Read more here.
— Dan Glaun, John Kennedy, Samantha Neely, The News-Press
Contributing: John Bacon, Thao Nguyen, Jorge Ortiz, Doyle Rice, Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY; The Associated Press
