Ian

One of the strongest hurricanes ever to strike the United States slammed into southwest Florida on Wednesday with Category 4-level winds.

A warmer atmosphere, which can “hold” more water vapor, is also increasing the amount of rainfall during larger storms. In the street, the water was waist deep and churning. The storm continued to intensify as it made landfall. “Leading up to the hurricane, we had a lot of heavy rain, so that will make flooding an even greater issue.” When it reached his knees around 10:30 p.m., he turned off the power and grabbed a pair of sneakers floating in the water. Two days ago, the city — which in 2017 suffered one of its worst floods in more than a century when Hurricane Irma dumped more than 2 trillion gallons of water in the area — thought it might be largely spared. Hurricane Ian, which the National Hurricane Center referred to as “extremely dangerous,” shoved water over thresholds, bent some palm trees and plucked others from the ground, and overturned small airplanes with the ease of a giant. [four feet higher](https://twitter.com/DrGregDusek/status/1575254121011154970) than the next highest surge in 50 years of observations. The hurricane was “a ferocious storm coming in, very hazardous, very ominous,” DeSantis (R) said Wednesday evening. In Tampa’s Ybor City neighborhood, 62-year-old Don Hughes said he had no choice but to stay where he was — flopped on a foldable chair, trying to stay dry under a Burger King awning. “If you are in any of those counties, it is no longer possible to safely evacuate. The surge increased to over seven feet in Fort Myers, nearly

More people — and more buildings to house them, often in coastal areas — mean that a major hurricane could become more costly and destructive.

[has slowed to a crawl in most of the U.S.](https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/12/us-population-grew-in-2021-slowest-rate-since-founding-of-the-nation.html), Florida has bucked the trend. city with at least 50,000 residents has grown faster than Fort Myers](https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2020/south-west-fastest-growing.html), the seat of the largest metropolitan area between Tampa and the Everglades, which added nearly 40% more residents in that time. In Tampa, no hurricane has hit the city directly in decades. "People are able to look past the long-term risk and think about, 'Where do I want to be for the next 10 years of my life?'" Strader said. In the worst case scenario, the estimate found, the reconstruction value could total more than $258 billion. Many of them haven't seen a hurricane," he said. Petersburg area makes it especially susceptible to a storm surge, experts said, and heavy rain could cause flooding even in inland areas. Ian may bring a "life threatening storm surge, catastrophic winds and flooding in the Florida peninsula," the hurricane center said in its 5 a.m. It is now classified as a Category 4 storm, [according to the National Hurricane Center](https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCPAT4+shtml/261755.shtml). Tampa, Fort Myers and Sarasota — all among the state's fastest growing metropolitan areas — are within the range of predicted paths, the NHC said. Instead of having targets, we are the targets — our cities, our developed areas. No state in the eastern U.S.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — This evening, Governor Ron DeSantis issued updates on Hurricane Ian at the State Emergency Operations Center with Division of Emergency ...

- OIR instituted a data call for the purpose of collecting catastrophe claims data related to Hurricane Ian. This Emergency Order is issued to protect the public health, safety and welfare of all Florida policyholders. - DBPR Emergency Order 2022-01 also extends the deadline for the filing of monthly reports and returns by certain alcoholic beverage and tobacco license holders from October 10, 2022, to October 31, 2022. - Publix has delivered more than 700 truckloads of water equal to almost a million cases, delivered more than 3 million pounds of ice, and is storing double store’s normal volumes. - North Pinellas and St. - As of 5 p.m. - AHCA has activated reporting in the Health Facility Reporting System (HFRS) and is requesting all health care providers report their census, available beds, evacuation status and generator status information. - Patient Movement Mission (DOH 4052) is activated. - A total of 5,000 Florida Guardsmen are being activated to State Active Duty and pre-positioned at armories across the state for Tropical Storm Ian response operations. - Five Florida Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Teams are activated and will be prepared to deploy to impacted areas. - DOH has coordinated with Federal partners to support the deployment of nearly 100 individuals through various health and medical teams. - FDEM is coordinating with utilities to ensure crews are prepared to respond and restore power.

Samaritan's Purse has sent two Disaster Relief Units to help hurting homeowners in Florida. Hurricane Ian, a deadly Category 4 storm, made landfall Wednesday, ...

Pray for local churches facing their own losses even as they seek to minister to hurting homeowners. “We are praying for everyone in its path and already mobilizing our team to respond in Jesus’ Name.” Please pray for the safety of area residents and for our teams.

Hurricane approaches Florida after passing over Cuba and the Caribbean sea as a powerful tropical storm.

The blackout, he added, was “an exceptional condition – a total of zero” electricity generation. The storm left at least two dead in western Cuba, state-run media reported. Tens of thousands of customers across central and southern Florida had lost power by Wednesday lunchtime. “This is going to be a rough stretch. Operations at the international airport were also halted. “We’ll be there at every step of the way. Authorities warned those who remained would be on their own because conditions were too dangerous for emergency crews to be out. This is a major, major storm,” he added. “There’s some storms that really leave an indelible impact … Overnight, areas of Key West were inundated with water. this is going to be one of those historic storms and it’s going to shape the communities in south-west Florida and have a profound impact on our state,” he said at a morning press conference. [Florida](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/florida) residents lay directly in the path of the deadly storm, which also threatened to bring a storm surge of up to 18ft (5.5 meters) to vulnerable coastal and inland areas.