Shocking photos show the extent of the devastation left by Hurricane Ian as it raged across the southwestern part of the state on Sunday, bringing with it historic flooding and widespread power outages.
Clear before-and-after images show the extent of historic hurricane-like flooding moving north into the central part of the state, prompting neighboring Virginia, Georgia, North and South Carolina states to declare states of emergency.
Fort Myers was one of the worst places to be ravaged by Ian, with apocalyptic photos showing homes ravaged by its rampage as roads turned into rivers with floodwater tsunamis.
Naples and nearby Sanibel Island were also rocked by the ‘historic’ storm, with later images showing a seaside pool submerged in water as the area saw winds in excess of 155mph.
The images show the current, tangled state of the Sunshine State’s southwest coast, with more than 1 million people without power and forced to climb to their rooftops as water levels are still rising.
Shocking photos show the extent of the devastation left by Hurricane Ian as it raged across the southwestern part of the state on Sunday, bringing with it historic flooding and widespread power outages. Pictured is flooding seen at a Sanibel Harbor resort this morning
A front image shows a pool and several homes near Estero Blvd in Fort Myers before the storm rocked the city
The photos show the pool, which was submerged at noon Wednesday, in a coastal part of the city known as Estero Island.
A few hours later, the level rose even higher, leaving some houses almost completely submerged, with no pool and its gates now visible.
On Sanibel, an island just west of Fort Myers and northwest of Naples, photos show flooding in the city Sanibel Harbor Resort, where the water level reached more than 12 feet.
Meanwhile, winds of up to 155mph tore through trees and smashed windows of homes on the island, home to some 6,400 Floridians.
The island was the first locality southwest of Florida to be affected by the hurricane, at which point it reached Category 4 status.
The faster snapshot shows some nearby areas before the flood started around 10am
About two hours later, the street was almost completely submerged in water as winds of up to 155 mph tore through the earth.
By afternoon, the area was barely identifiable, almost submerged by water.
The storm will continue to move nearby through the narrow sea channel separating the island from Fort Myers, where it causes even worse devastation.
The photos show a pool and several homes on the city’s coastal Estero Blvd before the storm rocked the city. Other images shows the pool was submerged Wednesday noon, in a coastal part of the city known as Estero Island.
Hours later, the water level rose even further, leaving some houses almost completely submerged, with no pools or gates visible.
Another set of images shows a shopping mall to the right of the pool before the flooding started
By the time they made landfall, cars had been submerged by rising water levels that would eventually exceed 12 feet.
Water levels in Fort Myers remained at extremes more than five hours after the storm – downgraded to a Category 3 hurricane Wednesday night – made landfall
Water levels in Fort Myers remained at extreme highs more than five hours after the storm – which was downgraded to a Category 3 hurricane Wednesday night – made landfall.
Meanwhile, winds are still strong at the end of the storm, which has been pushing water to shore since Wednesday night, flooding the mainland.
As of 9pm, the water level had only dropped about 8 inches in the past two hours, with all areas in the photo still underwater.
