Hurricane Ian damage totals hit $21 4 billion

Table Of Content

• WCNC would like to send you push notifications about the latest news and weather.
• WBBH Fort Myers
• More than 1 million Florida electric customers don’t have power
• Hurricane Ian damage totals hit $21.4 billion
• Florida releases insurance data on Hurricane Ian claims county-by-county
• Storm surge
• Ian moves away from Charlotte, leaving damage, thousands without power Saturday

It was damaged by a variety of storms (and one fire) throughout the first half of the 20th century and needed to be rebuilt after being totally destroyed by hurricanes in 1910 and 1960. Communications infrastructure, like cell towers, was also disrupted by the storm. The state has deployed 100 portable cell towers to bring mobile service back to the affected region.

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That is the total number of Florida households that are without any power as of early Wednesday morning according according to PowerOutage.us. National Guard troops were being positioned in South Carolina to help with the aftermath, including any water rescues. On Thursday afternoon, a steady stream of vehicles left Charleston, a 350-year-old city. The hurricane is predicted to move across Florida to the Atlantic Ocean, where it's expected to regain strength over water and begin to approach the South Carolina coast Thursday. Gov. Ron DeSantis called the storm a "500-year flooding event." President Joe Biden declared a major disaster in Florida on Thursday.

WBBH Fort Myers

At one point during the storm, they found a man standing in the pelting rain, holding bags of his belongings. When he ran for president in 2016, Jeb Bush, a two-term governor, frequently highlighted Florida’s hurricane preparedness and rebuilding efforts under his leadership. Mr. DeSantis’s immediate predecessor, Rick Scott, burnished a somewhat awkward public persona while shepherding Florida through a series of hurricanes during his tenure. On Wednesday morning, the president made a point to announce that he had been in touch with Mr. DeSantis. At a briefing early Wednesday evening, Mr. DeSantis noted that he had spoken with the president the day before.

More than 1 million Florida electric customers don’t have power

Allan says there are reports of flooding in the Orlando area already, and that some areas in central and northeastern Florida could see more than two feet. About 75% of the power outages are concentrated across seven southwest Florida counties nearest where the hurricane came ashore. Additional outages in central and northeast Florida, where the hurricane continued after making landfall, could add to the total over the course of the day.

Hurricane Ian Categories Explained: Florida Braces for Devastating Impact - Newsweek

Hurricane Ian Categories Explained: Florida Braces for Devastating Impact.

Posted: Wed, 28 Sep 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]

A hurricane warning was issued for the South Carolina coast and extended to Cape Fear on the southeastern coast of North Carolina. With tropical-storm force winds reaching about 415 miles (665 kilometers) from its center, Ian was forecast to shove storm surge of 5 feet (1.5 meters) into coastal areas in Georgia and the Carolinas. Rainfall of up to 8 inches (20 centimeters) threatened flooding from South Carolina to Virginia.

Florida releases insurance data on Hurricane Ian claims county-by-county

Other recent storms with record wind speeds are Hurricane Ida and Hurricane Michael, which took the fourth spot for strongest hurricane by landfall wind speed when it came ashore in 2018. We've got caseworkers that are assigned to individuals, so it helped them work through their FEMA assistance requests. The issue with that is that's typically in the form of a hotel voucher. And there's not a whole lot of hotel rooms available in southwest Florida, with all the recovery workers in town, and other folks who've already snapped up those rooms.

Storm surge

• Large trees snapped or uprooted and many roads impassable from trees and debris. • Catastrophic wind damage is expected beginning in the next few hours. As the Weather Channel's Mike Bettes shared, a camera 6 feet off the ground in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., gives a rare first-person view of Hurricane Ian approaching landfall.

Lee County sheriff says the hurricane took lives, but it's not yet clear how many

Two coastal counties that were hit the hardest — Lee County and Charlotte County — are “basically off the grid at this point,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a news conference. A coastal sheriff’s office reported that it was getting many calls from people trapped in flooded homes. Desperate people posted to Facebook and other social sites, pleading for rescue for themselves or loved ones. North Carolina is preparing for heavy rainfall and possible flooding on Friday and Saturday from the remnants of Ian.

The governors of Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina all preemptively declared states of emergency. Forecasters predicted Ian will turn toward those states as a tropical storm, likely dumping more flooding rains into the weekend, after crossing Florida. The storm surge flooded a hospital’s lower level emergency room in Port Charlotte, while fierce winds tore part of its fourth floor roof from its intensive care unit, according to a doctor who works there. A tropical storm warning was issued for the area around Charlotte, which will see rain move in Friday morning.

It has sustained winds of 70 mph — which is just 4 mph short of Category 1 hurricane strength. The NHC expects it to come ashore in South Carolina on Friday before moving slowly northward across the state. In addition, nearly 4,000 people across Lee County are currently staying in 15 shelters. He told reporters that he expects the shelters to fill up as people struggle with no power and little water. Kim Stenson, South Carolina Emergency Management director, said in a statement that while the state will not see the full force of Ian as Florida did, heavy rain, wind and flash flooding are a possibility with the storm's arrival. More than 2.6 million electricity customers in Florida were without power on Thursday.

Storm surge – rising levels of ocean water pushed inland by high winds – is a deadly hazard of hurricanes. To help monitor water levels, North Carolina has rolled out a new system to track water levels in creeks and streams. Anthony Kustura was in west Charlotte Friday morning, where NCDOT said Stewart Creek has started to rise by several inches. Reporter Jonathan Low is in Charleston County, where he is tracking road and beach conditions. He said the water has slowly been rising and winds have been pushing that water further into downtown.

The storm is expected to make landfall near Port Charlotte on Wednesday afternoon. Ian struck Florida with 150 mph (241 kph) winds that tied it for the fifth-strongest hurricane ever to hit the U.S. Emergency crews sawed through toppled trees to reach stranded people.