Newsman: Hurricane Ian swept through the state, damaging buildings and homes and flooding communities in Florida as hit by one of the strongest storms in U.S. history. Ian’s sustained winds of up to 155 mph are drawing fear and dread, and they’re expected to cause catastrophic damage. experts have repeatedly warned that the storm surge and floodwaters pose a dire threat. Officials warned flash floods were possible across the state, which could lead to pollution and radioactive waste overflow.
With heavy rain and strong winds after slamming into it Sunshine State Florida sees flooded homes and uprooted trees as Hurricane Ian doused . It left near about 2.3 million people without power in Florida, according to PowerOutage.us.
The powerful storm’s winds pulled massive amounts of water away from beaches and shorelines, exposing the seabed that’s normally covered by feet of ocean water. but the water is expected to return with a vengeance: The latest storm surge estimates predict up to 12-18 feet of water above ground level hitting an area from Englewood south to Bonita Beach, the National Hurricane Center said.
“IMPORTANT NOTE: The water WILL come back,” the National Weather Service office in Tampa said via Twitter, as it urged people not to walk out to explore areas where water has receded.
When it does arrive, the high water “will likely be accompanied by large and destructive waves,” the NHC said.
The storm made landfall as a Category 4 storm Wednesday afternoon, flooding parking garages and leaving residents stranded in their homes with battering 150 mph maximum sustained winds — just 7 mph shy of a Category 5 hurricane, the strongest on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane scale.
The storm previously tore into Cuba, killing two people and bringing down the country’s electrical grid. No injuries or deaths have been reported in Florida. Ian rapidly weakened as it moved through Florida and was a Category 1 late Wednesday as nearly every home and business in three Florida counties was left without power. Meteorologists with the National Center say it will then turn northwest toward Georgia and South Carolina.
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Water coursed through the streets of Naples, creating giant waves that made roads impassable and flooded the city’s fire department. A video posted by Naples Fire-Rescue showed crews working to salvage equipment and firetrucks in more than 3 feet of water. In Cape Coral, about 30 miles up the coast, photos showed a sailboat washed up in the middle of a road near homes.
Nearby Fort Myers saw intense storm surge flooding coastal communities and the area around WINK News, a local CBS affiliate. Videos showed water reaching car windshields in the studio’s parking lot and some of the storm surge leaking into the building.
Further north along the coast, intense storm surge flooded a hospital’s lower level emergency room in Port Charlotte, while fierce winds ripped away part of the roof from its intensive care unit, according to a doctor who works there.
Water gushed down from above onto the ICU, forcing staff to evacuate the hospital’s sickest patients — some of whom were on ventilators — to other floors, said Dr. Birgit Bodine of HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital. Staff members used towels and plastic bins to try to mop up the sodden mess.
