Severe tropical storm: Hurricane Ian makes landfall in Florida

Hurricane Ian has hit Florida’s west coast. Meters high floods were seen in several cities. Officials have warned of continued power outages and severe infrastructure damage.

Hurricane Ian has made landfall along the west coast of the US state of Florida. The U.S. Hurricane Center said the center of the four-fifths-magnitude hurricane hit the coast near Cape Coral. It is therefore an “extremely dangerous cyclone” that can lead to metre-high storm surges, flooding and heavy rain.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said some storm surges reached a height of about three and a half meters. Meteorologists feared they could grow to more than five meters at the top.

Officials warned of severe damage to infrastructure, communication lines and widespread and prolonged power outages. Evacuation instructions apply to 2.5 million people in the region.

More than a million homes are without electricity

Television images showed rain pouring down the streets, only the roofs of cars sticking out of the floodwaters and debris flying in the air. Governor DeSantis said “Ian” is likely to make it to the top five deadliest hurricanes in Florida. Residents were urgently warned not to leave their homes Thursday morning, for instance to assess the damage. Even as the hurricane winds down, there is still a risk of debris and downed power lines.

According to the PowerOutage website, about 1.6 million households were without power. Officials expected severe damage to infrastructure and communication lines. The extent of the devastation became apparent only with sunrise. Even as the cyclone gradually weakens, a stretch of land more than a hundred kilometers wide is subject to severe storms in its path.

Wide area with heavy damage

Meteorologists have warned that “Ian” could have destructive hurricane force along the state’s east coast on Thursday. The hurricane increased significantly over the Gulf of Mexico en route to Florida and sustained sustained winds of 240 km/h, below the threshold for super hurricane category.

Experts fear severe damage in the hurricane’s path across the US state. The first photos and videos on social media already showed severe flooding in Fort Myers Beach, Cape Coral and the cities of Naples, some of which were several meters high.

DeSantis said officials are standing by for rescue and repairs as soon as weather permits. About 7,000 National Guard soldiers and 179 planes or helicopters could be deployed, he wrote on Twitter. Additionally, technicians from more than 40,000 utility companies are already on hand to repair power lines.

Heavy rain for 24 hours

Ken Graham, director of the National Hurricane Center, stressed that it could take up to 24 hours to make landfall in Florida. It means heavy rain for 24 hours. Deanne Criswell of the US Disaster Management Agency, FEMA, said the area expected to be hit by the storm had not experienced such a hurricane in about 100 years.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called “Ian” “another example of dramatic climate action that is increasing with increasing frequency and catastrophe around the world.”

Governor: ‘Very ugly days’

Florida’s Governor DeSantis earlier warned people in his state to prepare for severe damage from the approaching Hurricane Ian. “It was a big, strong storm,” DeSantis said. “He’s going to do a lot of damage,” he warned. The Republican politician predicted the next day or two would be “pretty ugly” until the hurricane passes Florida. “It’s going to be a tough stretch.”

In this case, a boat carrying immigrants from Cuba sank off the coast of Florida on Wednesday. As announced on Twitter, the US Coast Guard searched for 23 people. Four migrants had previously swum from a boat in stormy weather to reach American Stock Island in Key West.

“Ian” was the third of five hurricanes to make landfall in Cuba on Tuesday. In Pinar del Rio province, which has been particularly hard hit, the Cuban government has reported that two people have died after houses collapsed. In the state of eleven million people, there was a nationwide power outage.