The Sunshine state is hit by full force of Hurricane Ian
HURRICANE Ian tore into Florida last night, with eight million residents in its path.
It hit the state’s west coast with winds of 250kph, 60cm of rain and a potentially catastrophic storm surge of five metres.
Around 2.5 million of the state’s residents have been ordered to evacuate their homes. Those who decided to stay put were warned that police would not be able to reach them and some police chiefs grounded their entire forces because conditions were so dangerous.
The Category 4 storm – Category 5 is the most severe – made landfall just after 12pm local time near the city of Fort Myers,
‘This is a major, major storm’
100 miles south of Tampa, and was expected to weaken to a Category 1 as it moved north today through Orlando.
Theme parks in Orlando including Disney, Universal Studios and SeaWorld, are all closed while airports in Tampa and Orlando were shut and more than 3,600 flights cancelled across the US.
Around 800,000 people were without power, a number that was expected to rise significantly while the National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for four counties in Florida. Officials say at least 15 hospitals and 40 nursing homes have been evacuated. The cost of the damage was predicted to be at least $45billion (€46bn), with the Tampa area the worst affected.
Only four hurricanes have made landfall in the US with maximum sustained winds greater than 250kph. The last storm of this magnitude to hit Tampa was in 1921, which brought 190kph winds and caused eight deaths. Back then the population of Tampa was around 400,000 but that has increased by three million.
Michael Brennan of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned of ‘catastrophic wind damage’ and ‘widespread catastrophic flooding’. He warned that ‘you’re not going to survive if you are in an area with 16ft of inundation’.
With that amount of water ‘breaking waves can destroy buildings and the foundations down to the slab’, he said.
At a press conference, Florida governor Ron DeSantis said about 30,000 electricity linemen, numerous urban search and rescue teams and 7,000 National Guard troops were on standby for when the hurricane passes.
He said: ‘Pray for people. This is a major, major storm. This is going to be one of those historic storms that will have a profound impact on our state’.
President Joe Biden said his government was ‘ready to help in every single way possible’.
He said: ‘This storm is incredibly dangerous, it’s life threatening. You should obey all warnings from emergency officials. Don’t take anything for granted. The danger is real’.
Deanne Criswell of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said: ‘We’re really concerned about all of the inland flooding.’
On its route north, Ian flooded homes in Key West. The entire island of Cuba was left without power by 200kph winds. In Florida’s southeast, small planes were overturned at North Perry airport.