Hurricane Ian carved a path of destruction across Florida, leading to evacuations, trapping people in flooded homes, destroying thousands of homes, cutting off the only bridge to a barrier island, and leaving 2.5 million people without power.
The catastrophic flooding was triggered by one of the strongest hurricanes to ever hit the United States crossed the peninsula. No deaths or injuries have been confirmed in the county
“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.”
President Joe Biden declared it a “major disaster” and announced federal aid to support recovery efforts in areas affected by the storm. Biden said that Hurricane Ian “could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida’s history.”
“The numbers are still unclear, but we are hearing early reports of what may be substantial loss of life,” he said during a visit to FEMA headquarters.
