Hurricane IanWinds eased enough overnight for it to be downgraded to a tropical storm by the National Hurricane Center in Miami, but it continued to pack a mighty punch as it moved across Florida toward the Atlantic Ocean . Storm surges remained a major concern.
Ian did landfall near Cayo Costa, Fla., in southwest Florida on Wednesday as a Category 4 major storm – the second strongest possible category on the Hurricane Saffir-Simpson Wind Scaleaccording to the hurricane center.
But as of 5 a.m. EDT Thursday, Ian’s sustained winds were 65 mph, 9 mph below hurricane level.
Ian’s center was about 40 miles southeast of Orlando and 35 miles southwest of Cape Canaveral. It was heading northeast at 8 mph.
Ian knocked out power in large swaths of Florida, particularly in the state’s southwestern counties. The number of homes and businesses in the dark topped 2.5 million shortly after 5 a.m. EDT, according to poweroutage.us.
This region quickly felt the impact of Ian after he made landfall.
“We saw life-threatening storm surge, as expected,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said at a press conference Wednesday night. “We also saw major flooding in places like Collier County, Sanibel, Fort Myers Beach.”
DeSantis said that storm surge probably peaked at about 12 feet.
Although it’s still too early for officials to assess structural damage, flooding has washed away cars and buildings, and downed power lines have sparked fires in coastal towns. Several cities asked residents to conserve water as flooded water facilities were struggling to keep up with demand.
The governor and other state officials warned late Wednesday that as Ian moves inland, residents of central and northeast Florida could see tornadoes, high winds and flash floods. Several counties near Jacksonville and St. Augustine were under full or partial evacuation orders.