2.5M power outages in Florida due to Hurricane Ian

The Category 4 hurricane made landfall Wednesday afternoon in southern Florida with 155 mph winds. Category 5 winds start at 157 mph. People tried to raise their belongings or move them inland to avoid anticipated storm surges of 12 to 18 feet. The eye of the hurricane passed over North Captiva Island, a barrier island west of Fort Myers, at about 2:30 p.m. PowerOutage.us reported about 2.5 million power outages across the state as of Thursday morning. No official numbers of fatalities have been released, but the Lee County Sherriff, Carmine Marceno said based on 911 called, it could be in the hundreds. 

Where is the storm headed? Some models predict the storm will go from southwest Florida to the northeastern corner of the state, then curve back and continue moving north over South Carolina and parts of North Carolina. The storm would likely be downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it hits Florida’s eastern coast. 

Dig deeper: Read Kim Henderson’s report in WORLD magazine on the aftermath of deadly storms ripping through the South.