A day after leaving a path of destruction in southwest Florida, trapping people in flooded homes, damaging the roof of a hospital intensive care unit and cutting power to 2.7 million people, Ian regained hurricane strength over the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean. route to South Carolina.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Ian became a tropical storm over land early Thursday. But a hurricane warning was issued for the entire coast of South Carolina during the day as the center of the storm drifted off the coast of Florida and back out to sea.
Forecasters predicted the Atlantic waters would strengthen it to a Category 1 hurricane before it made landfall in South Carolina on Friday.
hurricane https://t.co/tW4KeFW0gB
—@NHC_Atlantic
The hurricane center says the storm’s maximum sustained winds increased to 120 km/h on Thursday.
Floodwaters rose waist-high near Orlando, Florida, far inland, and tropical storm-force winds extended outward up to 400 miles from the center. Up to 12 inches of rain was forecast for parts of Northeast Florida, coastal Georgia and the South Carolina Lowcountry. Up to 15 inches could fall in southern Virginia as the storm moves inland over the Carolinas, and the center said landslides were possible in the southern Appalachian Mountains.
Ian turned streets into rivers and downed trees as it slammed into southwest Florida with winds of 150 mph (241 km/h), tied for the fifth-strongest hurricane ever to hit the U.S., as measured by wind speed .
A traffic light pole blown down by Hurricane Ian was seen in downtown Orlando, Florida on Thursday. Hurricane Ian has left a path of destruction in southwest Florida, trapping people in flooded homes, damaging the roof of a hospital intensive care unit and knocking out power. (Willie J. Allen Jr./Orlando Sentinel/The Associated Press)
Rescue efforts are underway as crews pilot boats and wade through flooded streets to help trapped Floridians.
“The Coast Guard had people who were in their attics and they were saved from their roofs,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said. “We’ve never seen a surge of this magnitude. … The amount of water that has been rising, and will likely continue to rise today, even as the storm passes, is basically a 500-year flood event.”
Authorities confirmed at least one storm-related death in Florida: a 72-year-old Deltona man who fell into a drain while using a hose to drain his pool in heavy rain, the Florida Sheriff’s Office said. Volusia County.
US President Joe Biden said he had approved DeSantis’ request that the federal government cover the full cost of clearing the debris and costs to save lives.
“This could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida’s history. The numbers aren’t clear yet, but we’re hearing early reports of what could be a substantial loss of life,” Biden said. The president said he would visit Florida “when conditions permit.”
The damage will be “catastrophic” and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is preparing for potentially thousands of people to be displaced long-term, the agency’s director, Deanna Criswell, said Thursday.
“Keep trying” – asks for help that you don’t get
Law enforcement officials in nearby Fort Myers, Fla., received calls from people trapped in flooded homes or worried family members. Petitions were also posted on social media, some with videos showing debris-covered water escaping onto the eaves of homes.
With no power and spotty cell phone coverage, many calls for help didn’t get through, even as emergency crews cut through downed trees to reach people in flooded homes.
An aerial view of damaged and flooded homes after Hurricane Ian tore through the area, in this still image taken from video in Lee County, Florida, on Thursday. (WPLG-TV/ABC/Reuters)
A piece of the Sanibel Causeway fell into the sea, cutting off access to the barrier island where 6,300 people in Lee County normally live. It is not clear how many of those people had stayed.
South of Sanibel, towering waves destroyed the historic pier off Naples Beach, uprooting even the pilings beneath. “Right now, there’s no dock,” said Penny Taylor, a commissioner for Collier County, which includes Naples.
Emergency crews sawed through downed trees to reach people in flooded homes, but with no power and virtually no cell service, it was impossible for many people to call for help in the hardest-hit coastal areas where the wave
“Portable towers are on the way for cell service. Your loved ones may not be able to reach you,” the Collier County Sheriff’s Office said. “We can tell you that as the light of day reveals the fallout, it’s going to be a tough day.”
This morning Sheriff Carmine Marceno toured Lee County to begin assessing the damage caused by Hurricane Ian.
We are devastated. Our hearts go out to all affected residents. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is mobile and will stop at nothing to help our residents. pic.twitter.com/S4OsB8ajRv
—@SheriffLeeFL
Hospitals face a variety of problems
Thousands of people were evacuated from nursing homes and hospitals across Florida on Thursday, even as the winds and water from Hurricane Ian began to recede. Hundreds of such evacuations were taking place in the hard-hit Fort Myers region, where damage cut off drinking water to at least nine hospitals.
Kristen Knapp of the Florida Health Care Association says 43 nursing homes evacuated about 3,400 residents Thursday morning, mostly in Southwest Florida.
Storm surge flooded the lower-level emergency room at HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital in Port Charlotte, while strong winds tore off part of the fourth-floor roof of the intensive care unit, according to a doctor who he works there
Dr. Birgit Bodine spent the night at the hospital, anticipating the storm would make things busy, “but we didn’t anticipate the roof blowing off on the fourth floor,” she said.
Bodine plans to spend another night in the hospital, when incoming injuries from the storm could make matters worse.
“Ambulances may be coming soon and we don’t know where to put them in the hospital at this point,” he said. “Because we are doubled and tripled.”
The heavily damaged roadway in Sanibel in Lee County is seen after Hurricane Ian tore through the area. (WPLG-TV/ABC/Reuters)
While the problem was too much water in much of the state, at least nine hospitals in Southwest Florida had the opposite problem.
“We have a large health system in Southwest Florida that doesn’t have water in all of their facilities. So they’re quickly approaching a point where they’re not going to be able to safely care for their patients,” he said Mary Mayhew, president of the Florida Hospital Association.
Mayhew said more than 1,200 patients were being evacuated.
Stedi Scuderi looks at her apartment in Fort Myers, Fla., early Thursday after it suffered flood water damage. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
In Orlando, residents of the Avante nursing home were evacuated to waiting ambulances and buses through water in a neighborhood that doesn’t normally flood. Paramedics brought residents in on stretchers and wheelchairs.
Other states prepare for the deluge
More than 2.7 million homes and businesses in Florida were without power, according to the site PowerOutage.us. Most homes and businesses in 12 counties were without power.
Airline tracking website Flightaware said 1,935 Thursday flights had been canceled and 738 Friday flights abandoned.
9/29 11:00 AM EDT: A life-threatening storm surge hazard exists from pic.twitter.com/h7h6ZevGhx
—@NHC_Surge
Walt Disney said its Orlando theme parks will close again on Thursday.
The storm is expected to make landfall in South Carolina on Friday. The governors of that state, North Carolina, Georgia and Virginia preemptively declared states of emergency.
“Tomorrow there will be water in this city,” Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg said. He asked the city to shut down to prepare for Ian’s approach.
In Charleston, officials opened parking lots so residents could get their cars above the impending flood. Forecasters predicted the seventh highest water level Friday afternoon in more than 120 years of record, 2.7 meters above mean low tide in the center harbor.
Stan Pentz leaves an Iona neighborhood Thursday after Hurricane Ian hit Florida. (Andrew West/The News-Press/USAToday Network/Reuters)