by Khaila Gentle
TAMPA, Florida, Thurs. Sept. 29, 2022
After striking the Cayman Islands and western Cuba, Hurricane Ian made landfall as a Category 4 storm along Florida’s southwest coast at 2:00 p.m. local time on Wednesday, bringing along with it devastating storm surges and winds of up to 155 miles per hour (mph).
US President Joe Biden has said that Ian could possibly be the deadliest storm in Florida’s history. This comes after some early reports of substantial loss of life, reports ABC News.
By Thursday morning, Ian had weakened to a tropical storm, but it is expected to return to hurricane strength late Thursday night. As a result, there is currently a hurricane warning in effect for the entire state of South Carolina.
Moving at a relatively slow pace, Ian brought heavy rainfall to most parts of Florida with some areas, like Tampa and Orlando, receiving anywhere between 12 and 24 inches of rain. And according to the NOAA, areas along the southwest coast saw storm surges of up to 20 feet above ground level, accompanied by destructive waves.
“I think we’ve never seen a flood event like this. We’ve never seen storm surge of this magnitude, and it hit an area where there’s a lot of people in a lot of those low-lying areas, and it’s going to end up doing extensive damage to a lot of people’s homes,” said Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, in response to the widespread destruction caused by flooding.
Ian has also left more than two million persons without power.
“You’re looking at a storm that’s changed the character of a significant part of our state. And this is going to require not just emergency response now, in the days or weeks ahead. I mean, this is going to require years of effort to be able to rebuild and to come back,” added DeSantis.
Just as Ian had made landfall near the island of Cayo Costa, DeSantis warned state residents of the catastrophic flooding that was to come, the Washington Post reports. He had also advised residents to treat Ian the way one would treat a tornado approaching their home.
Since the early hours of Thursday morning, emergency first responders have been hard at work carrying out search and rescue missions. President Biden has declared a major disaster in the state due to the destruction caused and has offered federal aid for local and statewide recovery.
On Tuesday, Ian struck Western Cuba. There, it left two persons dead and damaged buildings nationwide, BBC reports. The storm had also caused an island-wide power outage that affected some 11 million people. Two days later, power is finally, albeit slowly, being restored across the country.