The authorities in Florida speak of an “extremely dangerous” hurricane that is likely to lead to meter-high storm surges, flooding and heavy rainfall. They warn that serious damage to infrastructure and communication lines as well as widespread and sustained power outages are to be expected.
The first images from the TV station MSNBC and videos on social media already showed severe, sometimes meter-high flooding in southwest Florida, in the area of the cities of Fort Myers Beach, Cape Coral and Naples. More than a million Florida homes are already without power, according to the website poweroutage.us.
“This is a storm that we will be talking about for years to come, a historic event,” said Ken Graham, director of the National Weather Service.
Nothing works anymore – vehicles of the fire station in Naples
“Ian” had landed on the west coast of the American state. The center of the four-out-of-five-strength storm hit the coast near the city of Cape Coral, the US hurricane center said. The gusts reached wind speeds of up to 241 kilometers per hour.
In the region there are kilometers of sandy beaches, numerous holiday hotels and mobile home parks, which are popular with retirees and holidaymakers alike. The storm should soon lose strength over land, the hurricane center said. “But Ian could still have destructive hurricane strength this Thursday upon arrival on the east coast of the state, forecasters warn.
Another quick selfie – whipped waves crashing on the quay wall in Key West
Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis had previously prepared the population in his state for serious damage from “Ian”. “This is a big, strong storm,” DeSantis said Wednesday morning in the Florida capital, Tallahassee. The Republican politician predicted that the next day or two would be “very ugly”. As a precaution, 2.5 million people had been asked to leave their houses and apartments in the past few days. But by no means all residents have complied.
se/mak (ap, rtr, dpa, afp)
