Over 1 million people in Florida are without power as of Wednesday afternoon due to the impacts of Hurricane Ian, according to a power outage monitoring website.
“NOAA Doppler radar imagery indicates that the eye of Ian made landfall along the southwestern coast of Florida near Cayo Costa around” 3:05 p.m. ET, the NHC said. The storm has 150 mph winds, a slight decline from the 155 mph winds at its peak, according to the agency.
“There’s going to be widespread power outages, particularly in southwest Florida,” said at an afternoon news conference. He told people to avoid standing water, fallen trees, and downed power lines.
At around noon, the National Hurricane Center said the storm’s eyewall was moving on shore at Sanibel and Captiva islands.
Off the coast on Sanibel Island near Fort Myers, swirling water flooded streets and was halfway up mailbox posts by mid-morning. Seawater rushed out of Tampa Bay, leaving parts of the muddy bottom exposed, and waves crashed over the end of a wooden pier at Naples.
The center of the massive Category 4 storm lingered offshore for hours, which was likely to mean more rain and damage from a hurricane that was trudging on a track that would have it making landfall north of the heavily populated Fort Myers area. Catastrophic storm surges could push 12 to 18 feet (3.6 to 5.5 meters) of water across more than 250 miles (400 kilometers) of coastline, from Bonita Beach to Englewood, forecasters warned.
During the night, Ian went through a natural cycle when it lost its old eye and formed a new one. The timing was bad for the Florida coast, because the storm got stronger and larger—120 mph (193 kph) to 155 mph (250 kph)—with landfall just a few hours away.
The size of the storm also grew, with tropical storm force winds extending 175 miles (280 kilometers) from the hurricane’s center.
