As of: 09/28/2022 9:51 p.m
Tropical Storm Ian has hit Florida’s west coast. Meter-high flooding was observed in several cities. Authorities warned of ongoing power outages and serious infrastructure damage.
Hurricane Ian made landfall on the west coast of the US state of Florida. The center of the four-out-of-five-magnitude hurricane hit the coast near the city of Cape Coral, the US Hurricane Center said. It is therefore an “extremely dangerous hurricane” that is likely to lead to meter-high storm surges, flooding and heavy rainfall.
The authorities warned that serious damage to infrastructure, communication lines and widespread and sustained power outages are to be expected. Evacuation instructions applied to 2.5 million people in the region.
800,000 Florida homes without power
The first photos and videos on social media already showed severe flooding in the cities of Fort Myers Beach, Cape Coral and Naples, some of which were several meters high. Around 800,000 households in Florida were already without power on Wednesday afternoon (local time), as the Poweroutage website showed. Overland, the storm system should soon lose strength, the hurricane center said.
But Ian could still have destructive hurricane force on Thursday’s arrival on the state’s east coast, weather forecasters warned. The hurricane had increased significantly in strength over the Gulf of Mexico on its way towards Florida and, with wind speeds of around 240 km/h, was just below the threshold for the highest hurricane category.
Governor: Will be ‘very ugly days’
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had previously prepared the population in his state for severe damage from the approaching Hurricane Ian. “This is a big, strong storm,” DeSantis said. “He’s going to do a lot of damage,” he warned. The Republican politician predicted that the next day or two would be “very ugly” until the hurricane passed over Florida. “It’s going to be a tough track.”
Ian made landfall in Cuba on Tuesday as a category three of five hurricane. In the province of Pinar del Río, which was particularly hard hit, two people died after their houses collapsed, the Cuban government said. In the state with a good eleven million inhabitants, the electricity failed nationwide.