Florida is about to land today
Hurricane Ian has strengthened to “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm Wednesday and having moved to the brink of Category 5 status, its maximum sustained winds blasted at 155 mph as Florida’s west coast prepared for landfall Wednesday afternoon.
AccuWeather Forecasters had predicted landfall just northwest of Fort Myers, between Don Pedro Island and Boca Grande, at around 4 p.m. It will close most of the state to life-threatening storm surges, catastrophic winds and flooding, said the National Hurricane Center. At 7 a.m., the center of Ian lies 65 miles southwest of Naples.
“We are currently forecasting a catastrophic storm surge of 12 to 16 feet from Englewood to Bonita Beach,” the storm center’s advisor warned.
Nearly 90,000 homes and businesses in South Florida were in the dark early Wednesday, according to the tracking website. poweroutage.us. Florida Power & Light warns of possible statewide blackouts.
Tornadoes are also a risk, and warnings and watches were issued as rain bands began to sweep across the state.
Ian’s astounding wind speeds are within 2 mph of Category 5, the highest state on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said in Sarasota, a coastal city 57,000 people were in the path of the storm. “This is a life-threatening storm surge.”
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Heavy rain, floods spread to Georgia, South Carolina
Heavy rainfall will spread across the Florida peninsula through Thursday. The weather agency said widespread, long-lasting and record-breaking, massive and record flooding and river flooding are expected across central Florida. Water disasters will hit parts of the Southeastern United States this weekend and into this weekend.
“Large-scale, life-threatening catastrophic flooding is expected over parts of central Florida with significant flooding in south Florida, northern Florida, southeastern Georgia and coastal South Carolina,” service said in an advice.
Airports, amusement parks withstand storms
Airports in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Key West were closed on Wednesday. Orlando International was scheduled to shut down at 10:30 a.m., and at least 700 incoming and outgoing flights were canceled early Wednesday. Disney World and Sea World theme parks in Orlando both closed before the storm.
A couple from England vacationing in Tampa find themselves facing the storm at a shelter. Glyn and Christine Williams of London were told to leave their hotel near the beach when an evacuation order was issued. Because the airport is closed, they cannot have any flights home.
“Unfortunately, all hotels are full or closed, so it looks like we will be staying in one of the shelters,” said Christine Williams.
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Contribution: Associated Press