More than 2.6 million homes and businesses were without power in Florida on Thursday after Hurricane Ian pommelled the state, according to local authorities.
Hurricane Ian is now continues to move northeast across the state on its way to the Carolinas. In its latest advisory, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Ian was in the Atlantic Ocean after battering Florida.The Weather Service has issued a storm surge warning for portions of four states – Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and northeast Florida.
Emergency crews used helicopters and boats to rescue residents stranded by floodwaters, downed power lines and piles of debris left behind by the hurricane’s catastrophic march brought torrential rains that inundated more communities across the state.
Thousands of people were evacuated from nursing homes and hospitals across Florida on Thursday even as strong winds began receding. Hundreds of those evacuations were taking place across the hard-hit Fort Myers region.
“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 for recovery efforts in areas affected by the storm.
Hurricane Ian may turn out to be the “deadliest” storm to ever hit Florida, President Joe Biden said on Thursday.
“This could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida’s history,” Biden said at the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Washington, DC, adding, “The numbers are still unclear, but we’re hearing early reports of what may be substantial loss of life.”
