By CURT ANDERSON
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Ian left a path of destruction in southwest Florida, trapping individuals in flooded properties, reducing off the one bridge to a barrier island, damaging the roof of a hospital intensive care unit and knocking out energy to 2.5 million individuals because it dumped rain throughout the peninsula on Thursday.
One of the strongest hurricanes to ever hit the United States threatened catastrophic flooding across the state. Ian’s tropical-storm-force winds prolonged outward as much as 415 miles (665 km), drenching a lot of Florida and the southeastern Atlantic coast.
Emergency crews sawed by means of toppled bushes to succeed in individuals in flooded properties, however with no electrical energy and just about no cell service, it was not possible for many individuals to name for assist from the toughest hit coastal areas the place the surge got here in.
“Portable towers are on the way for cell service. Chances are your loved ones do not have ability to contact you,” stated the sheriff’s workplace in Collier County, which incorporates Naples. “We can tell you as daylight reveals the aftermath, it’s going to be a hard day.”
In Lee County, which incorporates Fort Myers, simply south of the place Hurricane Ian made landfall, the sheriff’s Office posted a cellphone quantity household and buddies can name for welfare checks, and stated “If the line is busy, keep trying.”
The National Hurricane Center stated Ian turned a tropical storm over land early Thursday and was anticipated to regain near-hurricane power after rising over Atlantic waters close to the Kennedy Space Center later within the day, with South Carolina in its sights for a second U.S. landfall.
A stretch of the Gulf Coast remained inundated by ocean water, pushed ashore by the huge storm. “Severe and life-threatening storm surge inundation of 8 to 10 feet above ground level along with destructive waves is ongoing along the southwest Florida coastline from Englewood to Bonita Beach, including Charlotte Harbor,” the Miami-based hurricane heart stated.
A bit of the Sanibel Causeway fell into the ocean, reducing off entry to the barrier island the place 6,300 individuals usually stay. How many heeded necessary evacuation orders was not possible to know within the storm’s fast aftermath.
In Port Charlotte, the storm surge flooded a hospital’s emergency room whilst fierce winds ripped away a part of the roof from its intensive care unit, in accordance with a physician who works there.
Water gushed down onto the ICU, forcing them to evacuate their sickest sufferers — some on ventilators — to different flooring, stated Dr. Birgit Bodine of HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital. Staff members used towels and plastic bins to attempt to mop up the sodden mess.
The medium-sized hospital spans 4 flooring, however sufferers crowded into two due to the harm, and extra have been anticipated with individuals injured from the storm needing assist.
“As long as our patients do OK and nobody ends up dying or having a bad outcome, that’s what matters,” Bodine stated.
Law enforcement officers in close by Fort Myers acquired calls from individuals trapped in flooded properties or from nervous relations. Pleas have been additionally posted on social media websites, some with video exhibiting debris-covered water sloshing towards the eaves of their properties.
Brittany Hailer, a journalist in Pittsburgh, contacted rescuers about her mom in North Fort Myers, whose house was swamped by 5 ft (1.5 meters) of water.
“We don’t know when the water’s going to go down. We don’t know how they’re going to leave, their cars are totaled,” Hailer stated. “Her only way out is on a boat.”
Hurricane Ian turned streets into rivers and blew down bushes because it slammed into southwest Florida on Wednesday with 150 mph (241 kph) winds, pushing a wall of storm surge. Ian’s power at landfall was Category 4, tying it for the fifth-strongest hurricane, when measured by wind pace, ever to strike the U.S.
Ian’s heart got here ashore greater than 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Tampa and St. Petersburg, sparing the densely populated Tampa Bay space from its first direct hit by a significant hurricane since 1921.
Ian dropped to a tropical storm early Thursday over land, however was anticipated to accentuate once more as soon as its heart strikes over the Atlantic Ocean and menace the South Carolina coast Friday at near-hurricane power earlier than transferring inland.
At 5 a.m. Thursday, the storm was about 40 miles (70 km) southeast of Orlando and 35 miles (55 kilometers) southwest of Cape Canaveral, carrying most sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph) and transferring towards the cape at 8 mph (13 kmh), the middle stated.
Hurricane warnings have been lowered to tropical storm warnings throughout the Florida peninsula, with widespread, catastrophic flooding remaining seemingly, the hurricane heart stated. Storm surges as excessive as 6 ft (2 meters) have been nonetheless forecast for each coasts.
“It doesn’t matter what the intensity of the storm is. We’re still expecting quite a bit of rainfall,” Robbie Berg, senior hurricane specialist with the National Hurricane Center, stated in an interview with The Associated Press.
Up to a foot (30 centimeters) of rain forecast for components of Northeast Florida, coastal Georgia and the Lowcountry of South Carolina. As a lot as 6 inches (15 centimeters) may fall in southern Virginia because the storm strikes inland over the Carolinas, and the middle stated landslides have been potential within the southern Appalachian mountains.
No deaths have been reported within the United States from Ian by late Wednesday. But a ship carrying Cuban migrants sank Wednesday in stormy climate east of Key West.
The U.S. Coast Guard initiated a search and rescue mission for 23 individuals and managed to seek out three survivors about two miles (three kilometers) south of the Florida Keys, officers stated. Four different Cubans swam to Stock Island, simply east of Key West, the U.S. Border Patrol stated. Air crews continued to seek for probably 20 remaining migrants.
The storm beforehand tore into Cuba, killing two individuals and bringing down the nation’s electrical grid.
The hurricane’s eye made landfall close to Cayo Costa, a barrier island simply west of closely populated Fort Myers. As it approached, water drained from Tampa Bay.
More than 2.5 million Florida properties and companies have been left with out electrical energy, in accordance with the PowerOutage.us web site. Most of the properties and companies in 12 counties have been with out energy.
Sheriff Bull Prummell of Charlotte County, simply north of Fort Myers, introduced a curfew between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. “for life-saving purposes,” saying violators could face second-degree misdemeanor fees.
“I am enacting this curfew as a means of protecting the people and property of Charlotte County,” Prummell stated.
Life-threatening storm surges and hurricane circumstances have been potential on Thursday and Friday alongside the coasts of northeast Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, the place Ian was anticipated to maneuver inland, dumping extra rain effectively in from the coast, the hurricane heart stated.
The governors of South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Virginia all preemptively declared states of emergency.
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Associated Press contributors embrace Christina Mesquita in Havana, Cuba; Cody Jackson and Adriana Gomez Licon in Tampa, Florida; Freida Frisaro in Miami; Anthony Izaguirre in Tallahassee, Florida; Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida; Seth Borenstein and Aamer Madhani in Washington; Bobby Caina Calvan in New York; Andrew Welsh-Huggins in Columbus, Ohio; Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Alabama, and Alina Hartounian in Phoenix, Arizona.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”