Weather report. Hurricane Ian makes landfall in Florida and is already causing ‘catastrophic flooding’
Hurricane Ian, considered « extremely dangerous », made landfall CE Wednesday afternoon in Florida, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC). It has already caused « catastrophic » flooding. At sea, poor conditions capsized a boat carrying migrants, and the coastguard is still looking for 20 missing people, three having been rescued and four others having managed to swim to shore.
Carrying sustained winds of up to 240 km / h, Ian made landfall along the coast of Cayo Costa, in the southwest of the state, at 3:05 p.m. local time (9:05 p.m. French time), according to the NHC. The hurricane was causing « catastrophic marine flooding, windstorms, and flooding across the Florida Peninsula, » according to the center’s previous bulletin.
Completely flooded streets
The streets of Punta Gorda, in the south of the state, where a few passers-by were still walking at noon, had suddenly emptied on Wednesday afternoon, as the sky turned greyish and the showers intensified. Strong winds tore off the branches of many palm trees in the center, even making the electric poles wobble, the cyclone still being about forty kilometers from the city.
In Naples, in southwest Florida, images from the MSNBC channel showed completely flooded streets and cars floating in the current.
The phenomena of marine submersion could reach more than five meters on the coasts, according to the NHC, while between 30 and 45 cm of precipitation are expected in central and northeast Florida, and up to 60 cm by locations.
It is a very powerful hurricane which will have considerable consequences
« This is a storm that will be talked about for many years to come, » NWS Director Ken Graham said at a press conference. In the morning, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned that Ian could make landfall as a Category 5 hurricane, the highest category on the Saffir-Simpson scale. « Clearly, this is a very powerful hurricane that will have far-reaching consequences, » he said.
Evacuation orders were given overnight for a dozen counties on the coast. According to the poweroutage.us site, more than 810,000 homes were already without electricity in Florida at 3:20 p.m. (7:20 p.m. French time).
Cuba hit on Tuesday
Hurricane Ian, then in category 3, had previously struck Cuba on Tuesday, devastating the west of the country for five hours before heading towards the Gulf of Mexico, according to the Cuban meteorological institute Insmet. Two people were killed in the western province of Pinar del Rio according to Cuban state media. The island and its 11.2 million inhabitants have been plunged entirely into darkness.
As the surface of the oceans warms, the frequency of the most intense hurricanes, with stronger winds and greater precipitation, increases, but not the total number of hurricanes.
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