More than 2.5 million people were under mandatory evacuation orders, but by law no one could be forced to flee. The governor said the state has 30,000 linemen, urban search and rescue teams and 7,000 National Guard troops from Florida and elsewhere ready to help once the weather clears.
Florida residents rushed ahead of the impact to board up their homes, stash precious belongings on upper floors and join long lines of cars leaving the shore.
Overnight, Hurricane Ian went through a natural cycle when it lost its old eye and formed a new eye. The timing was bad for the Florida coast, because the storm got stronger and larger only hours before landfall. Ian went from 120 mph (193 kph) to 155 mph (250 kph) in just three hours, the second round of rapid intensification in the storm’s life cycle.
Ian’s forward movement shifted slightly southward, likely sparing Tampa and St. Petersburg their first direct hit by a major hurricane since 1921.
Among the casualties of Hurricane Ian in Florida was a newly purchased McLaren P1, reported local media. The vehicle, which costs over Rs. 10 crore in India, reportedly ended up going through the garage and out on the street.
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Climate change added at least 10% more rain to Hurricane Ian, a study prepared immediately after the storm shows.
Thursday’s research, which is not peer-reviewed, compared peak rainfall rates during the real storm to about 20 different computer scenarios of a model with Hurricane Ian’s characteristics slamming into the Sunshine State in a world with no human-caused climate change.
“The real storm was 10% wetter than the storm that might have been,’’ said Lawrence Berkeley National Lab climate scientist Michael Wehner, study co-author. (Read more)
New data from NASA reveals how warm ocean waters in the Gulf of Mexico fueled Hurricane Ian to become one of the most powerful storms to strike the United States in the past decade.
Sea surface temperatures were especially warm off Florida’s southwest coast, allowing the storm to pick up energy just before crashing into the state north of Fort Myers.
The storm brought fierce winds, unrelenting rains and catastrophic flooding to southwest Florida. As it moved inland, it lost power and was downgraded to a tropical storm, but grew into a hurricane again as it traveled across the warm Atlantic toward South Carolina. (Read more)
Rescue crews piloted boats and waded through inundated streets Thursday to save thousands of Floridians trapped amid flooded homes and shattered buildings left by Hurricane Ian, which crossed into the Atlantic Ocean and churned toward South Carolina.
Hours after weakening to a tropical storm while crossing the Florida peninsula, Ian regained hurricane strength Thursday evening over the Atlantic. The National Hurricane Center predicted it would hit South Carolina as a Category 1 hurricane Friday, with winds picking up to 80 mph (129 kph) near midnight Thursday. (Read more)
Hurricane Ian is likely to have worsened what was already expected to be the smallest U.S. orange crop in 55 years after it blasted through a large fruit producing area when it passed through Florida this week, flooding farms and causing oranges to drop from trees.
Precise information on losses for citrus producers in top grower Florida will take days to be released, analysts said, as people in the area deal with power outages and flooding makes it difficult to check on farms. Orange juice futures jumped in the last three sessions.
Florida orange production was already expected to be poor, as planted areas have been falling yearly due to real estate expansion and the spread of the greening fungus disease. According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), US orange production was estimated to fall 13% to the lowest in over 55 years at 3.5 million tons before the storm. (Reuters)
Tampa, one of the major Florida airports temporarily closed by Hurricane Ian, will reopen Friday at 10 a.m. ET (1400 GMT) as it did not suffer any serious damage, the airport said.
Airlines canceled 2,000 U.S. flights Thursday and nearly 2,200 Wednesday and have canceled 1,042 flights for Friday, according to Flightaware.
Orlando Airport said it expects to reopen at some point Friday but 'a damage assessment is taking place' and all roads leading to the airport remain closed due to flooding. (Reuters)
Rescue crews waded through flooded streets and used boats Thursday in a scramble to save people trapped after Hurricane Ian destroyed a cross-section of Florida and brought torrential rains that continued to fall.
The destruction began to come into focus a day after Ian made landfall in Florida as one of the strongest hurricanes ever to hit to the U.S. The storm flooded homes on both of the state's coasts, cut off the only bridge to a barrier island, destroyed a historic waterfront pier and knocked out electricity to 2.5 million Florida homes and businesses.
At least one man was confirmed dead.“We’ve never seen storm surge of this magnitude,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told a news conference. “The amount of water that’s been rising, and will likely continue to rise today even as the storm is passing, is basically a 500-year flooding event.” (AP)
Hundreds of hospital patients were being evacuated from facilities across the Fort Myer's region Thursday after damage from Hurricane Ian cut off water supplies. One area hospital began assessing the full damage from ferocious winds that tore away parts of its roof and swamped its emergency room.
Other health care systems in Ian's path, from the state's Gulf coast to the Atlantic, were also moving patients because of flood waters. Even as the problem was too much water in much of the state, at least nine hospitals in southwest Florida had the opposite problem.
“We have one large health system in southwest Florida that is without water in all of their facilities. And so they are fast approaching a point where they will not be able to safely take care of their patients. So that is an urgent focus to get those patients transferred,” said Mary Mayhew, the president of the Florida Hospital Association.
Mayhew said more 1,200 patients were being evacuated. (AP)
Ian marched across central Florida on Thursday as a tropical storm after battering the state’s southwest coast, dropping heavy rains that caused flooding and led to inland rescues and evacuations.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said in a tweet that “water is at least waist deep” in Orlavista, near Orlando. The agency’s emergency response crews assisted with rescues.
Orange County Fire Rescue tweeted video of floodwaters, rescues and evacuations.On the southwest coast, crews worked to clear roads in the Fort Myers area, and police reminded residents trying to return to their homes that a curfew is in place. (AP)
Rain and overflow from rivers is causing severe flooding near parts of Florida's Atlantic coast as storm Ian makes its way back out to sea, officials said Thursday.
The Daytona Beach region is experiencing “historic flooding" that includes water in people’s homes, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said at a news conference. He implored people to stay off the roads, and the county has imposed a curfew until 7 am Friday.
“This is unprecedented for Volusia County,” said local emergency management official Jim Judge.Farther inland, residents of a nursing home were taken to ambulances and buses Thursday morning in an Orlando neighborhood that doesn’t typically flood. Paramedics rolled Avante Orlando residents out on stretchers and wheelchairs. At a neighboring apartment complex, cars were submerged in the parking lot. (AP)
Rescue workers and residents of Florida's Gulf Coast searched for missing people and picked up the pieces from wrecked homes on Thursday after Hurricane Ian tore through the area with howling winds, torrential rains and raging surf.
The hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm on Thursday morning as it weakened over land. Ian blasted ashore at the barrier island of Cayo Costa on Wednesday afternoon as a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 150 miles per hour (241 kph).
An unspecified number of people were stranded after choosing to ride it out at home rather than heed evacuation orders, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said. In the early morning hours after it passed, residents in hard-hit areas hunted for family and friends as trees, debris and power lines covered roads and standing water washed over the ground. The search was made more difficult as cell phone services were often cut. (Reuters)
Hurricane Ian left a path of destruction in southwest Florida, trapping people in flooded homes, damaging the roof of a hospital intensive care unit and knocking out power to 2.5 million people before aiming for the Atlantic Coast on Thursday.
One of the strongest hurricanes to ever hit the United States churned across the Florida peninsula, threatening catastrophic flooding inland. Ian's tropical-storm-force winds extended outward up to 415 miles (665 km), and nearly the entire state was getting drenched. The National Hurricane Center said Ian became a tropical storm over land early Thursday and was expected to regain near-hurricane strength after emerging over Atlantic waters near the Kennedy Space Center later in the day.
Flooding rains continued across the state, and a stretch of the Gulf Coast remained inundated by ocean water, pushed ashore by the massive storm. (AP)
US Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday said images of hurricane Ian are devastating and that the government is fully committed to offering federal support.
Harris, who is currently in South Korea for planned visit, also added that people should follow any evacuation orders. (Reuters)
Ian has weakened into a tropical storm but is still expected to produce strong winds, heavy rains, and storm surge across portions of Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Thursday.
The storm, packing maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph), was now about 35 miles (55 km) southwest of Cape Canaveral, the Miami-based forecaster said. (Reuters)
Ian dropped in strength by late Wednesday to Category 1 with 144 kph winds as it moved overland. Still, storm surges as high as 2 m were expected on the opposite side of the state, in northeast Florida, on Thursday.
The storm was about 90 km southwest of Orlando with maximum sustained winds of 120 kph at 2 am (11.30 am IST) Thursday, the Miami-based hurricane center said.
A hurricane warning remained in effect north of Bonita Beach, about 50 km south of Fort Myers, to Anclote River including Tampa Bay and from Sebastian Inlet to the Flagler/Volusia county line. (AP)
As the US and the state begin shifting to storm response and then recovery, here are some of the threats to monitor.
Wall of water: Hurricanes push water in front of them as they move over the ocean. This is known as “storm surge,” which can cause significant coastal destruction. Low-lying geography and the shallow continental shelf in parts of western Florida make it particularly vulnerable.
The sunshine state could go dark for days: Category 4 storms wreak such damage on power grids — such as snapping poles — that the National Hurricane Center says blackouts can last weeks or even months. Florida Power & Light, the state’s biggest electric utility, told customers to brace for “widespread outages” from Ian and cautioned they could linger for days.
Out of gas: Many Florida fuel terminals are shut, while high winds and flooding make truck deliveries impossible in many areas. Fuel distributors in the state are warning of lengthy wait times to resupply businesses and homes with diesel for generators.
Breakfast getting more expensive: Orange juice futures soared as Ian neared the Florida shore. And if crop damage of Florida’s famed crop is as extensive as feared — potentially 90% of its citrus belt, according to Maxar — it will further worsen food inflation plaguing consumers.
Risk of chemical spills and dead fish: Florida produces much of the US’s phosphate fertiliser, in a process that yields a radioactive and toxic byproduct called phosphogypsum, which is stored in stacks — or big mounds. Last year, one of them suffered a catastrophic failure due to heavy rain, causing a red tide that killed about 816 kg of sea life and forced evacuations in nearby towns. Environmental experts fear a potential repeat with Ian.
Good luck getting insurance: Florida’s insurance market was already chaotic before Ian. But the storm arrives in the wake of six insolvencies among insurers that write homeowner policies in the state. (Bloomberg)
Airlines cancelled almost 2,000 US flights for Thursday after Hurricane Ian hit Florida's Gulf Coast with catastrophic force in one of the most powerful US storms in recent years.
The hurricane is causing significant disruptions to US air travel, especially in the southeast United States. Since Tuesday airlines have cancelled more than 5,000 flights through Friday.
Airlines cancelled 2,163 flights Wednesday as a number of Florida airports temporarily halted operations, including Tampa, Orlando, Sarasota-Bradenton, Melbourne, Daytona Beach, Naples and St Petersburg/Clearwater. Airline tracking website Flightaware said 1,935 flights for Thursday had been cancelled and 738 Friday flights scrapped. Airlines cancelled 403 flights Tuesday ahead of the storm. (Reuters)
Two major airports in Florida, namely the Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers and the Orlando International Airport, cancelled flights and ceased functions following the hurricane, as per a New York Times report.
Four Cuban migrants swam to shore in the Florida Keys and three others were rescued from the ocean after their boat sank Wednesday, shortly before Hurricane Ian made landfall in southwestern Florida.
But 20 more people might be missing, officials said.
The four Cubans reached Stock Island, just east of Key West, and reported their vessel sank because of inclement weather, US Customs and Border Protection Chief Patrol Agent Walter N. Slosar said in a post on Twitter. The US Coast Guard initiated a search for 23 people and managed to find three survivors about three kilometers south of the island chain, officials said. The survivors were taken to a local hospital for symptoms of exhaustion and dehydration. Air crews continued to search for the remaining migrants. (AP)
Over 2.18 lakh people are without power in Florida, as per an update on aggregating website poweroutage.us
Hurricane Ian swamped a Florida hospital from both above and below, the storm surge flooding its lower level emergency room while fierce winds tore part of its fourth-floor roof from its intensive care unit, according to a doctor who works there.
Dr. Birgit Bodine spent the night at HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital in Port Charlotte, anticipating the storm would make things busy, "but we didn’t anticipate that the roof would blow off on the fourth floor," she said. Water gushed down Wednesday from above onto the ICU, forcing staff to evacuate the hospital's sickest patients — some of them on ventilators — to other floors. (AP)
Hurricane Ian bludgeoned its way through southwestern Florida on Wednesday as one of the most powerful storms to ever strike the state, bringing fierce winds, unrelenting rains and drastic inundations to coastal communities that were overtaken by the surging waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Floridians braced for extensive and catastrophic damage around Fort Myers, near where Ian made landfall as a Category 4 storm, with winds up to 150 mph, at approximately 3.05 pm. But a huge stretch of coastline from Naples to Sarasota appeared severely affected by lapping brown waves that drowned streets, cars and homes as frightened residents sought refuge. (Read more)
Amid reports of severe flooding, videos on social media showed members of Naples Fire Rescue rescuing people from a stranded car in waist-high flood water during Hurricane Ian.
Hurricane Ian plowed into Florida's Gulf Coast with catastrophic force on Wednesday, unleashing howling winds, torrential rains and a treacherous surge of ocean surf that made it one of the most powerful US storms in recent years.
Crashing ashore as a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of up to 241 kph, Ian quickly transformed an idyllic stretch of sandy beaches and coastal towns into a disaster zone inundated by seawater.
Early video images of the storm's fury on local TV and social media showed floodwaters sweeping away cars, nearly reaching rooftops in some communities and the ruins of homes as palm trees were bent almost in half. (Reuters)
Climate change is making hurricanes wetter, windier and more intense. There is also evidence that it is causing storms to travel more slowly, meaning they can dump more water in one place, scientists say.
"Hurricane Ian's rapid intensification could prove to be another example of how a warming planet is changing hurricanes," said Kait Parker, meteorologist and climate scientist at IBM's weather.com. "Research shows we are seeing this far more often than we did in decades past." (Reuters)
Due to Hurricane Ian, NASA and SpaceX are now targeting the launch of the agency’s Crew5 mission on October 4, 12,23 pm EDT with a backup opportunity on October 5.
As Floridians brace for the approaching storm, here are the five of the most deadly and destructive hurricanes to hit the state in recent years.
While Hurricane Katrina in 2005 traveled across the southern tip of Florida, most of the damage it caused was in New Orleans. Katrina still ranks as both the deadliest and most expensive hurricane in modern U.S. history. Excluding Katrina, Hurricane Irma was the costliest in Florida history, with total U.S. damage estimated at $50 billion.
Hurricane Andrew directly killed 15 people and dozens indirectly, while Hurricane Irma caused seven direct and 80 indirect deaths, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Hurricane Charley (2004) was an unexpectedly powerful hurricane, rapidly developing into a Category 4 storm just before making landfall at Cayo Costa, an island of Florida's Gulf Coast. Nine people were directly killed by the storm and an estimated $6.8 billion was lost, according to the NHC.
Hurricane Michael (2018) was the strongest hurricane on record to make landfall in the Florida Panhandle, according to the National Weather Service. Wind and storm surge caused catastrophic damage, particularly in the Panama City Beach and Mexico Beach areas. Eight direct fatalities were reported: seven in Florida and one in Georgia. In addition, 43 indirect deaths were attributed to the storm. (Reuters)
Even as Tampa and St Petersburg are likely spared as Hurrican Ian's forward movement shifted slightly southward, water was sucked out of the bay area in Tampa in preparation for possible flooding as the hurricane got heavy winds and rains.
Cuban officials said they had begun to restore some power after Hurricane Ian knocked out electricity to the entire island while devastating some of the country's most important tobacco farms when it hit the island's western tip as a major storm.
The Energy and Mines Ministry announced it had restored energy to three regions by activating two large power plants in Felton and Nuevitas and was working to get others back on line.
But the capital, Havana, and other parts of western Cuba remained without power on Wednesday in the wake of the major hurricane, which had advanced northward to Florida. It was the first time in memory — perhaps ever — that the whole island had lost power. (AP)
More than 2.5 million people were under mandatory evacuation orders in Florida, but by law no one could be forced to flee.
The governor Ron DeSantis said the state has 30,000 linemen, urban search and rescue teams, and 7,000 National Guard troops from Florida and elsewhere ready to help once the weather clears, The Associated Press reported.
Florida residents rushed ahead of the impact to board up their homes, stash precious belongings on upper floors and join long lines of cars leaving the shore. Some chose to stay and ride out the storm.
Hurricane Ian's most damaging winds began hitting Florida's southwest coast Wednesday, lashing the state with heavy rain and pushing a devastating storm surge after strengthening to the threshold of the most dangerous Category 5 status.
Fueled by warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico, Ian grew to a catastrophic Category 4 hurricane overnight with top winds of 155 mph (250 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center.