The powerful Hurricane Ian swept through Florida on Wednesday, its high winds and torrential rains
having already caused “catastrophic” flooding and widespread power outages.
Slightly out of the path of the hurricane, near the Keys archipelago, poor conditions caused a boat carrying migrants to capsize, and the Coast Guard was still searching for 20 people, three of whom were rescued and four of whom managed to swim to shore.
Carrying winds of up to 185 km/h, Ian made landfall along the coast of Cayo Costa in the southwestern part of the state at 3:05 pm local time (19:05 GMT), according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).
The hurricane caused “catastrophic” flooding, the center said.
Previously classified as Category 3, of the 5 that comprise the Saffir-Simpson scale, Ian was downgraded to Category 1, announced the NHC around 03:00 GMT.
– Electricity cut off –
More than 2 million homes were without power Wednesday night in Florida, mainly around the hurricane’s path, according to the specialized site PowerOutage.
Several counties near where Ian made landfall were almost entirely without power, according to the site.
The city of Punta Gorda plunged into darkness.
In the night, only a few buildings equipped with generators remained illuminated, the only sounds around being the roar of the wind and the driving rain.
A few hours earlier, the city had experienced a brief respite when it found itself in the eye of the hurricane. But the gusts and rain came back with even more force, knocking down signs and
carrying away pieces of roofs and branches of trees.
In Naples, Southwest Florida, MSNBC footage showed streets completely flooded and cars floating in the
current.
In the city of Fort Myers, the flooding was so severe that some neighborhoods looked like lakes.
The flooding has exceeded 3 meters at times, announced Wednesday evening the governor of the state, Ron DeSantis.
The weather event is then expected to move inland during the day, emerging over the western Atlantic by Thursday evening, according to the NHC.
Hurricane Ian is expected to weaken as it moves inland, but could still cause significant damage as it reaches eastern Florida, he said.
– “Very dangerous” –
Governor Ron DeSantis said Wednesday night that it would likely be “one of the five strongest hurricanes to ever hit Florida.”
“This is a storm that will be talked about for many years to come,” U.S. Weather Service (NWS) Director Ken Graham said at a news conference.
The director of Fema (the federal agency in charge of natural disasters), Deanne Criswell, said that Ian would continue to be a “very dangerous” storm for “the coming days”.
– “Rapid Intensification” –
Hurricane Ian had previously hit Cuba on Tuesday, killing two people and plunging the island into darkness.
As the ocean surface warms, the frequency of the most intense hurricanes, with stronger winds and more precipitation, increases, but not the total number of hurricanes.
According to Gary Lackmann, professor of atmospheric science at North Carolina State University in the United States, several studies have shown a “possible link” between climate change and a phenomenon known as “rapid intensification” – when a relatively
weak hurricane strengthens into a category 3 or higher hurricane within 24 hours, as was the case with Ian.
“A consensus remains that there will be fewer storms in the future, but that the most important ones will be more intense,” the scientist told AFP.
