Many feared dead after Hurrican Ian

FORT MYERS: After carving a path of destruction across the Florida peninsula, washing away houses, causing a causeway to collapse and stranding thousands along the state’s Gulf Coast, Hurricane Ian regained strength and was about to do more damage to several other states amid fears about the storm’s death-toll.

US President Joe Biden said early reports suggested there had been a substantial loss of life in Florida.

“This could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida history,” he said after a briefing with Federal Emergency Management Agency officials. Biden has declared a major disaster in Florida. Yesterday, the hurricane barrelled north toward a second landfall in South Carolina, a day after carving a path of destruction across central Florida that left rescue crews racing to reach trapped residents along the state’s Gulf Coast.

More than 2 million people were left without power yesterday morning, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis saying that the storm had caused a “500-year flooding event” and that Coast Guard helicopters were plucking trapped residents from the rooves of homes.

Ian was expected to hit near low-lying Charleston, in South Carolina, last night, bringing life-threatening flooding, storm surges and winds.

Hundreds of kilometres of coastline, from Georgia to North Carolina, were also under a hurricane warning.

Officials in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina urged residents to prepare for dangerous conditions.