LATEST: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said in a televised speech late Wednesday night that the storm surge caused by Hurricane “Ian” has probably reached its peak. DeSantis says, according to Reuters, that he expects reports of extensive damage in large areas of the state in the coming days. According to the national hurricane centre, the wind force has been as high as 235 kilometers per hour at Punta Gorda, with heavy rain and high seas that have pushed water inland. Brent Shaynore runs to safety in Sarasota, Florida during Hurricane Ian. Photo: JOE RAEDLE / AFP Power Outage More than 1.8 million households have lost power in Florida, according to the website PowerOutage.us. The number is expected to rise, writes the news agency APF. According to the website, the areas of Fort Myers and Cape Coral, where the hurricane first made landfall, are the hardest hit. There are over 330,000 households without electricity now. This is over 70 per cent of the area’s electricity customers. Hurricane Ian in Sarasota, Florida. Photo: Sean Rayford / AFP Large amounts of precipitation and heavy rain hit southern coastal areas in Florida, before the hurricane’s center hit land in the south-west of the state at 21:00 Norwegian time. The hurricane settled just below the strongest category 5. Satellite images show the hurricane approaching the coast of Florida on Wednesday. Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Millions evacuated The governing authorities fear major floods, and have asked .5 million inhabitants to evacuate. Among them is Amy Darby and her five-year-old son Gavin. Their home in the city of St. Petersburg is prone to storm surge and is in a mandatory evacuation zone. – Everyone in my area had to leave. Because if you don’t leave during a mandatory evacuation, they won’t help you, says Amy to news. What awaits them when they are allowed to return, she has no idea. – It is scary. Very scary. We didn’t know what was going to happen when we left. Then they said the storm was going to be catastrophic for my area. So you don’t know if you will return to a house with a roof, or with floods. Amy Darby has evacuated to her aunt’s house north of Tampa. Here she is with her son Gavin and niece Gwen. Photo: Private – I said a prayer and left Already on Monday, Amy packed up and traveled with her son to her aunt north of the big city of Tampa. – His school closed, and my office closed at 2pm, so everyone could get home and make preparations or evacuate, she says. Amy had bought food and flashlights. She took in all the patio furniture, closed all the doors in the house and pulled curtains in the hope of keeping any glass out. – That was really all I could do. I said a prayer and left and hopefully it will still be there when I get back. They are supposed to be safe at the aunt’s place, but they definitely feel the approaching storm. – We just lost the power, she says around 10 am local time, 4 pm Norwegian time. Gavin (5) and his cousin Gwen have their flashlights ready until dark. Photo: Privat Large areas According to the US hurricane center NHC, the hurricane will cause catastrophic storm surge, wind and flooding in southern Florida. The storm is expected to weaken after it makes landfall, but it could remain near hurricane strength on its way across the state’s east coast on Thursday. According to the NHC, “Ian” is expected to change direction to the north on Friday. The hurricane will then approach northeast Florida, Georgia and South Carolina late Friday. Two dead in Cuba “Ian” has already hit the island nation of Cuba hard. Two people have been declared dead, writes the BBC. According to AFP, on Wednesday, US border guards stated that 23 people are missing after a boat with migrants from Cuba capsized during the hurricane. With a magnitude of 3, it hit land on Tuesday morning. The entire country was blacked out in its ravages when the power grid collapsed. Some of the island’s 11 million inhabitants have regained power on Wednesday, Cuban authorities say, according to Reuters. But much repair work remains. This creates challenges for the storage of food and medicine, and in some places also for safe water supply. In addition, the storm has led to flooding, destroyed houses and uprooted trees. At least five houses are said to have collapsed in the capital, Havana. In Cuba, they are starting clean-up work after the ravages of hurricane “Ian”. Photo: Ramon Espinosa/AP
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Hurricane “Ian” ravages Florida – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
