Hurricane Ian ravages Florida, South Carolina
Inside Climate News
TOPSHOT – Residents inspect damage to a marina as boats are partially submerged in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers, Florida, on September 29, 2022. – Hurricane Ian left much of coastal southwest Florida in darkness early on Thursday, bringing “catastrophic” flooding that left officials readying a huge emergency response to a storm of rare intensity. The National Hurricane Center said the eye of the “extremely dangerous” hurricane made landfall just after 3:00 pm (1900 GMT) on the barrier island of Cayo Costa, west of the city of Fort Myers. (Photo by Giorgio VIERA / AFP) (Photo by GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images)
October 18, 2022
Florida has a long and bruised history of hurricanes from the famous Katrina (2005) to Harvey (2017).
This year another storm awakened, Hurricane “Ian.” September 21, 2022, marked the date when the hurricane first hit as a powerful category 4 storm. Winds were stationed around 150 mph as it marched around Fort Myers and Cape Coral and by the night upwards of 2 million residents were without power. The storm settled down to a category 1 with a maximum of 90 mph and the next day it dropped even lower to 75 mph.
The downgrade set a false sense of safety because the storm soon returned to dangerous levels. More than 2.5 million received evacuation orders, but many chose to ignore the command and more than 3.4 million residents experienced power outages.
At least 119 people have been reported to have been victims of Ian. The insurance losses total a massive $60 billion, which lands at second place for the largest disaster loss event according to the industry trade group Insurance Information Institute. It ties for the fifth strongest winds in the United States and the fourth fastest landfall speed in Florida. It was the sixth most destructive hurricane in the past six years.
These gigantic numbers might suggest that the worst is over, but that could be far from the truth as there are still two months left of the hurricane season.
