Over 2.5 million in the dark after Ian sweeps across Florida

The Naples Fire Department was inundated with storm surge from Hurricane Ian on Wednesday. (Photo: Naples Fire Department via Twitter)

Extremely powerful and dangerous Ian has been downgraded to a tropical storm Thursday morning, with 100km/h winds and a ton or rainfall. Ian made landfall at 3:05pm Wednesday, near Cayo Costa, Florida, with 225km/h winds and a record setting storm surge that exceeded 12 feet (3.5 metres) in places. The surge wiped out large sections of the coastline to the south of the point of landfall, including Fort Myers Beach, Naples and Sanibel Island.

While mandatory evacuations were in place, many chose not to leave, becoming trapped in homes that were coming apart in the rapidly rising storm surge as the Gulf waters were driven inland by the powerful hurricane. Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno expects fatalities, and "they may run into the hundreds," according to him.

The storm has caused catastrophic destruction along the coast. As the system moved inland, fresh water flooding became the problem, with up to 300mm of rainfall, falling in just a six hour period from Sarasota northeast to Orlando and east into Daytona Beach.

Aside from structural damage and scores of trees down, thousands of power poles and lines were torn apart leaving over 2.5 million people in the dark across the state. 

The center of tropical storm Ian was located 15km west of Cape Canaveral, Florida early Thursday, with 100km/h winds, moving northeast at 13km/h. As the storm moves back over the Atlantic Ocean today, some intensification is expected before a second landfall along the South Carolina coast on Friday. More surge fooding is expected along the southeastern US coast, along with flash flooding well inland into North Carolina and Virginia. Widespread weather warnings are in effect.

Strong high pressure in place over Quebec, will keep Ian well south of our region, forcing the storm off the middle Atlantic coast near Delaware by the end of the weekend. The system may impact eastern Newfoundland early next week.