Climate
Massive flooding after Hurricane Ian makes landfall on Florida's west coast
A 20-year resident of Fort Myers Beach said in an interview Wednesday that he had never been through a storm like this before
September 28, 2022 4:54pm
Updated: September 28, 2022 6:24pm
Hurricane Ian made mainland landfall on the southwest coast of Florida, near Cayo Costa, an island near Fort Myers, with maximum sustained winds estimated at 145 mph, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported Wednesday.
The Category 4 system was located 20 miles northwest of Fort Myers and 10 miles west-southwest of Punta Gorda, Florida, according to the 4:00 p.m. special bulletin. ET from the NHC.
Hurricane Ian weakened at landfall as the state has experienced catastrophic storm surge, winds and flooding since early.
The storm, which is just 2 mph from reaching Category 5 strength, the most powerful rating for a storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale, knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people in Florida, according to local reports.
Only four Category 5 hurricanes have hit the continental United States in records dating back to 1851.
Videos on social media show massive flooding in Fort Myers. National Weather Service (NWS) Director Ken Graham called the hurricane's landfall "extremely dangerous."
435 PM EDT 28 Sep -- Hurricane #Ian has made mainland Florida landfall just south of Punta Gorda near Pirate Harbor.
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) September 28, 2022
Maximum sustained winds at this landfall are estimated at 145 mph.
Latest: https://t.co/WlsRUwAoEz pic.twitter.com/iGr5iIEFHm
Graham said the storm will bring "24 hours of rain, 24 hours of wind pushing water" to the state. At some points he estimated 24 inches (610 millimeters) of rain: "It's going to be a devastating storm for parts of Florida, not just on the west coast but inland. It's going to be a storm we'll be talking about for years to come. It's a historic event."
The storm surge, Graham estimated, will be 18 feet (5.5 meters).
Joe Orlandini, a Fort Myers Beach resident for 20 years, said in an interview Wednesday that he had never been through a storm like this one.
Near Cayo Costa, where it made landfall, traffic lights and utility poles are down. There is no Internet and many of the cell phone towers were affected. "Cell phone service has been severely affected," the Fox News envoy on the scene said.
