Catastrophic hurricane Ian making landfall along the Florida Gulf Coast

A NOAA satellite image of powerful hurricane Ian, located 90km west of Naples, Florida on Wednesday morning. Ian has strengthened rapidly overnight, to almost category 5 level, now with 155mph (250km/h) winds. The storm is expected to have devastating effects along the southwest Florida coast today.

Hurricane Ian has grown into a massive Category 4 hurricane early Wednesday morning, just 90km west of Naples, Florida in the Gulf of Mexico. Over the last two hours the storm has strengthened rapidly and is on the verge of a category 5 storm. Current winds are at an incredible 155mph (250km/h) as the storm moves north-northeast at 17km/h. Hurricane and tropical storm warnings are in effect along the west coast of Florida, and extending up the Atlantic Coast from Miami to South Carolina.

Landfall should occur sometime this morning, between Cape Coral and Sarasota on Florida's Gulf Coast. South Florida has been experiencing terrible weather over the last 24 hours as feeder bands swept across south Florida from the Atlantic to the Gulf. A total of nine tornadoes were reported on Tuesday alone, more are expected today as Ian interacts with the land.

In Key West, winds gusted to 97mph on Tuesday, along with storm surge flooding. Power outages across the state have grown steadily Wednesday morning to over 140,000 customers, with Ian still offshore. The storm will take a diagonal path across the state emerging into the western Atlantic on Thursday, before a second landfall in Georgia.

Across the southwest Florida coast today, catastrophic conditions are expected near landfall, with severe wind damage power outages, flooding and an intense storm surge. The surge is forecast to inundate the coast with 12 to 18 feet of sea water between Englewood and Bonita Beach, including Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda.

Ian's path was expected to be anywhere from the panhandle to Fort Myers, with Tampa looking like the bullseye. That has changed today, with a much stronger storm expected to move inland south of Tampa Bay. Dangerous weather conditions will be felt across the state today as Ian moves inland from the Gulf to near Orlando and eventually Jacksonville on the Atlantic Coast.

Heavy rain, flooding and tornadoes will spread into southern Georgia on Thursday.