Trapped people, 2.5 million without power as Tropical Storm Ian inundates Florida

Another Florida sheriff said he believed the death toll would be “in the hundreds.” Lee County Mayor Carmine Marcino told ABC’s “Good Morning America” ​​that roads and bridges remain impassable, stranding thousands of people calling 911 to be rescued in the county that includes Fort Myers.

“We were crushed,” Marcino said. “We still can’t reach many people in need.”

Kevin Anderson, the mayor of Fort Myers, told NBC’s “Today” program that he hasn’t been told of any deaths in the city, but Ian is by far the worst storm he’s seen since the 1970s.

“Watching the water from my condo in the heart of downtown, watching the water rise and flood all the shops on the first floor, it was heartbreaking,” Anderson said.

Part of the Sanibel Bridge fell into the sea, cutting off access to the barrier island where 6,300 people normally live. It was impossible to know how many mandatory evacuation orders were met before the stormy island swept across.

Emergency crews deployed fallen trees to reach people in flooded homes, but with no electricity and virtually no cellular service, it was impossible for many people to seek help from the hardest-hit coastal areas where the surge came.

“Portable towers are on their way to cellular service. It is possible that your loved ones do not have the ability to contact you,” the sheriff’s office in Collier County, which includes Naples, said. “We can tell you as daylight reveals the consequences, it is going to be a tough day.”

In Fort Myers, Valerie Bartley’s family spent desperate hours fearing a storm would destroy their home. She and her husband pushed their dining room table against a sliding patio door to prop it up against high winds, and held it in place for two hours.

“I was terrified,” Bartley said. “What we heard was shingles and debris from everything in the neighborhood hitting our house… It was happening for hours. We assumed it was tearing up our house.”

She said that as the storm broke out outside, her 4-year-old daughter grabbed her hand and said, “I’m scared too, but things will be fine.”

Hurricane Ian turned streets into rivers and cleared trees when it hit southwest Florida on Wednesday with winds of 150 mph (241 kph). Ian’s landing strength was Category 4, tying it to the fifth strongest hurricane, when measured by wind speed, to ever hit the United States.

Ian’s center came ashore more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Tampa and Saint Petersburg, sparing the densely populated Tampa Bay area from its first direct hit by a major hurricane since 1921.

Tropical Storm Ian made landfall early Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said, and is expected to regain strength near a hurricane after appearing over Atlantic waters near the Kennedy Space Center later in the day, with South Carolina in sight for a landfall. A second American.

Part of the Gulf Coast remained under ocean waters: “Severe life-threatening storms 8 to 10 feet above ground level along with devastating waves continue along the southwest coast of Florida from Englewood to Bonita Beach, including Port Charlotte, The center said Thursday.

In Port Charlotte, a hospital emergency room was flooded and a high wind swept through part of the ceiling, causing water to flow into the intensive care unit. Dr. Birgit Bowden of HCA Florida Fawcett said the sickest patients — some on ventilators — crowded the two middle floors as staff prepared for the arrival of storm victims.

The Florida Highway Patrol closed the Florida Turnpike in the Orlando area due to significant flooding and said a major artery in the center of the state will remain closed until the waters recede.

Calls from people trapped in flooded homes or worried relatives flooded 911 lines. Appeals have also been posted on social media, some of which contain videos showing debris-covered water flowing toward the eaves of their homes.

Pittsburgh journalist Brittany Heller called lifeguards about her mother in North Fort Myers, whose home was submerged in 5 feet (1.5 meters) of water.

We don’t know when the water will run low. “We don’t know how they’re going to leave, their cars assembled,” Heller said. “Her only way out is on a boat.”

Ian fell into a tropical storm early Thursday over land, but was expected to intensify again once its center moves over the Atlantic and threatens the South Carolina coast Friday with near-hurricane force before moving inland.

At 8 a.m. Thursday, the storm was about 40 miles (70 km) east of Orlando and 10 miles (15 km) southwest of Cape Canaveral, carrying maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 km/h) and moving toward the cape at 8 mph (13 km), the center said.

The Hurricane Center said hurricane warnings have been reduced to tropical storm warnings for all of the Florida peninsula, with the potential for widespread catastrophic flooding continuing. Storms of up to 6 feet (2 meters) are still expected for both coasts.

“It doesn’t matter how severe the storm is. We’re still expecting a little bit of rain,” said Robbie Berg, chief hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center, in an interview with the Associated Press.

Up to 30 cm of precipitation forecast for parts of northeastern Florida, coastal Georgia and the Lowcountry of South Carolina. It could fall up to 6 inches (15 cm) in southern Virginia as the storm moves inland over the Carolinas, and the center said landslides are possible in the southern Appalachian Mountains.

But a boat carrying Cuban migrants sank Wednesday in stormy weather east of Key West.

The US Coast Guard has launched a search and rescue mission for 23 people and found three survivors two miles (three kilometers) south of the Florida Keys, officials said. The US Border Patrol said four other Cubans swam to Stoke Island, east of Key West. The crews continued to search for the remaining 20 migrants.

The storm had previously swept through Cuba, killing two people and destroying the country’s power grid.

The eye of the hurricane made landfall near Cayo Costa, a barrier island west of densely populated Fort Myers. As it approached, the water was drained from Tampa Bay.

More than 2.5 million Florida homes and businesses have been left without power, according to PowerOutage.us Site. Most homes and businesses were out of power in 12 counties.

Sheriff Paul Brommel, of Charlotte County, north of Fort Myers, declared a curfew between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. “for life-saving purposes,” saying violators could face charges of second-degree misdemeanour.

“I am enacting this curfew as a way to protect people and property in Charlotte County,” Brommel said.

The Hurricane Center said life-threatening storms and hurricane conditions were possible Thursday and Friday along the coasts of northeastern Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, as Ian was expected to move inland, dumping more rain from the coast.

The governors of South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Virginia have proactively declared states of emergency.

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Associated Press contributors include Cristina Mesquita in Havana, Cuba; Cody Jackson and Adriana Gomez to be in Tampa, Florida; Frieda Frisaro in Miami; Anthony Izagiri in Tallahassee, Florida; Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida; Seth Bornstein and Aamir Madani from Washington. Bobby Kayna Calvan in New York; Andrew Welch Huggins in Columbus, Ohio; Jay Reeves of Birmingham, Alabama, and Alina Hartonian in Phoenix, Arizona.

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