Were people evacuated in time? Amid a high death toll, the USA TODAY Network created a detailed evacuation and storm timeline, finding three main factors that contributed to the storm’s severity.
Long before the torrent of saltwater from Hurricane Ian began killing people on the Lee County coast, a complicated equation developed by the state was already in place.
Mostly mathematical, it goes through evacuation machinations that take into account storm height, traffic, whether it’s tourist season and the timing of damaging winds to create a timeline on how best to get that people are safe before a storm.
