Hurricane Ian makes landfall in Florida as 155mph Category 4 monster
Hurricane Ian made landfall Wednesday in western Florida at 2:24 p.m. — causing panic and wreaking havoc as it destroyed buildings, ripped trees from the ground, caused cars to float away and flooded houses up to their roofs.
The storm first hit North Captiva Island, which is just west of Fort Myers and Cape Coral, Accuweather reported.
Gov. Ron DeSantis latest statement said, “Ian is currently a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 155 miles per hour, nearing a Category 5.”
Florida is preparing for tens of billions of dollars in damage and up to 18-foot storm surges as the hurricane moves inland with the large cities of Tampa and Orlando preparing for impact.
Much of Naples, Florida is currently underwater and overwhelmed by flooding, according to video footage and emergency services.
More than one million Floridians are without power — and outages are growing rapidly.
Fort Myers is under evacuation orders and lies within the hurricane’s direct path, but is already feeling its effects with storm surges so high buildings have been completley flooded and power lines downed, sparking fireballs as they hit the water running through the city’s streets.
Ryan Lamb, fire chief and emergency management director of neighboring Cape Coral told CNN: “We’re getting reports of significant structural damage across our city, as well as significant rain.”
If the behemoth storm’s winds increase by just two miles per hour, it will be considered a Category 5 hurricane, and has the potential to be one of the most devastating to ever hit the US.
Residents in neighboring counties have been advised it is now too dangerous for them to leave and emergency management officers have told them to shelter in place. The storm surge from the hurricane is expected to continue through the night and into Thursday.
Only four Category 5 hurricanes have ever reached the continental US.
“This is going to be a nasty nasty day, two days,” DeSantis warned his state’s residents.
Ian already devastated Cuba, where large swaths of the island are without power after it rolled through the nation as a Category 3 storm, before strengthening over the Gulf Of Mexcio before it hit Florida.
The storm is moving at 9 miles per hour, and is expected to slowly make its way northeast across the Sunshine State, hitting cities like Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville.
More than 2.5 million people are under mandatory evacuation orders, which are not actually enforceable.
The governor said he has readied tens of thousands of people to operate search and rescue teams, including 7,000 members of the National Guard.
With Post wires.