Follow the latest Thursday developments here. Our previous coverage is shown below.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami reduced Hurricane Ian from a hurricane to a tropical storm overnight, but it was still delivering a powerful punch as it moved over Florida toward the Atlantic Ocean. Storm surges continued to be a major worry.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Ian made landfall in Cayo Costa, Florida, in southern Florida on Wednesday as a significant Category 4 storm – the second-strongest possible category on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
At 5 a.m. Thursday EDT, however, Ian’s sustained winds were 65 mph, 9 mph below the threshold for a hurricane.
Ian’s location was around forty miles southeast of Orlando and thirty-five miles southwest of Cape Canaveral. It was traveling 8 mph northeast.
Ian knocked down electricity throughout vast parts of Florida, notably in southwestern Florida counties. According to poweroutage.us, the number of households and businesses without electricity surpassed 2.5 million shortly after 5 a.m. EDT.
As soon as Ian reached landfall, the region felt his influence.
“As predicted, we have experienced life-threatening storm surge,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis stated at a press conference on Wednesday evening. We have also witnessed heavy flooding in Collier County, Sanibel, and Fort Myers Beach.
DeSantis estimated that the storm surge peaked at approximately 12 feet.
It is too early for officials to determine structural damage, but water carried away cars and buildings and toppled power lines ignited fires in coastal communities. As flooded water systems struggled to meet demand, a number of communities encouraged their inhabitants to conserve water.
As Ian headed inland, the governor and other state officials issued a warning Wednesday evening that residents of central and northeast Florida might see tornadoes, severe winds, and flash flooding. Several counties in the vicinity of Jacksonville and St. Augustine were ordered to evacuate in full or in part.