When hurricane “Ian” hit land in the southwest of the US state of Florida on Wednesday evening, the strength was close to category five, which is the highest. It is thus one of the two strongest hurricanes to have made landfall on Florida’s west coast. It has since been downgraded from a hurricane to a storm, but the devastation “Ian” leaves behind is enormous. Certain areas were hit by life-threatening storm surges, and the floods are described as catastrophic. Brenda Brennan sits next to a boat that was pushed against her apartment in Fort Myers as the hurricane swept by. Photo: JOE RAEDLE / AFP Governor Ron DeSantis says on Thursday that the city of Fort Myers is “completely destroyed”. The Coast Guard is busy rescuing people from roofs in the city, writes CNN. Now a lot of clean-up work and repairs await. Over 2.6 million electricity customers are without power in Florida, reports PowerOutage.us. Stedi Scuderi looks in despair at her apartment, which was flooded when the hurricane came through Fort Myers. Photo: JOE RAEDLE / AFP Moving north New areas may be affected as the storm moves north in the state. The storm’s center is off Cape Canaveral on Florida’s east coast Thursday morning, US time. This is stated by the American hurricane center NHC at 14:00 Norwegian time. But the effect is felt far beyond the center of the storm. According to the hurricane center, gale-force winds extend Thursday morning local time all the way from Tampa, Florida to Charleston, South Carolina. The destruction after the hurricane is visible in the streets. Trees and traffic signs are uprooted. Here from the city of Punta Gorda. Photo: RICARDO ARDUENGO / AFP Biden has declared a disaster US President Joe Biden declared a major disaster in Florida on Thursday. Federal assistance will now be provided to help with cleanup efforts. The president’s move makes federal funds and aid available in nine counties along the state’s west coast. This is revealed in a press release from the White House. According to CNN, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says they expect more help. – Since the storm has moved inland and caused potential damage in the central part of our state, we are going to ask that those counties be included. .
ttn-69