Hurricane Ian was heading for South Carolina on Friday after bludgeoning southwest and central Florida, leaving catastrophic damage in its wake.
The National Hurricane Center said Ian, which had regained hurricane status after a brief period as a tropical storm, was expected to bring “potentially deadly storm surge” and hurricane-like conditions to the Carolina coast, as well as “torrential rains” across South and North Carolina and southern Virginia. It issued a hurricane warning for the entire South Carolina coast.
Ian was already bringing tropical storm conditions to the Georgia and Carolina coasts Friday morning, the hurricane center reported.
And Ian may have more in store for Florida: “Major flooding to record riverine flooding will continue in central Florida through next week,” the hurricane center predicted.
Ian made landfall in southwest Florida on Wednesday as a major Category 4 hurricane, then tore through the state. It was one of the strongest hurricanes to ever hit the United States and could be the deadliest in state history, President Biden has said.
State emergency officials announced 21 deaths Friday morning, but they don’t know if all of them are directly related to the storm. Additionally, in Volusia County, the sheriff’s department confirmed two storm-related deaths there.
People were stuck in houses. Videos and pictures showed devastating floods. Today, nearly 2 million homes and businesses remain without power, according to poweroutage.us.
Now, Ian is expected to land for the second time somewhere near Charleston, South Carolina, mid-afternoon Friday, CBS News weather producer David Parkinson said. As of 11 a.m., its center was about 65 miles east-southeast of Charleston, and it was moving north at 14 mph with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph, according to the hurricane center.
It is expected to “weaken rapidly” after making landfall and move further inland over South and North Carolina before dissipating by Saturday evening, forecasters said.