Hurricane Ian, one of the most powerful storms to hit the United States, slammed into the Florida coast Wednesday evening, battering the state with strong winds, torrential rain and waves.
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Nearing Category 5, Hurricane Ian makes landfall in Florida: First impressive images of rising waters
Ian, rated a 4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, had sustained winds of 241 km/h near the island of Cayo Costa, south of Tampa, the US Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
305 PM EDT 28 Sep — Hurricane #Ian It made landfall near Cayo Costa, Florida, as a very dangerous Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph. Air Force Reconnaissance Hurricane Hunters have a minimum pressure of 940 mb.
Latest: https://t.co/tnOTyfORCw pic.twitter.com/O3agPDOZHk
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) September 28, 2022
Although the strength of its winds brought the hurricane closer to Category 5, the NHC indicated that it should weaken after making landfall.
The hurricane caused “catastrophic” flooding as it approached Florida, where the Coast Guard launched operations to find 23 migrants missing at sea.
Carrying sustained winds of up to 250 km/h and an even “stronger” hurricane, the NHC estimated in its last bulletin that it would “cause sea flooding, wind and catastrophic flooding on the Florida peninsula.”
\ud83c\udf0a Horrifying images from the streets of Fort Myers #Florida. Cyclone #Ian This camera is installed at a height of 1.80 meters above the ground, creating a huge rise in sea level. https://t.co/uALertRTRV
— Guillaume Séchet (@Meteovilles) September 28, 2022
“This is a storm we’ve been talking about for years, a historic event,” said Ken Graham, director of the US National Weather Service (NWS).
More than a million homes in Florida are already without power, according to PowerOutage, a specialized site that charts power outages.
Authorities earlier in the week urged more than 2.5 million residents to evacuate their homes in flood-prone areas.
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