People trapped, 2.5 million without power as Ian floods Florida

by ADRIANA GOMEZ-LICON

PONTA gorda, Florida (AP) – Hurricane Ian devastated a cross-section of Florida, trapping people in flooded homes, forcing patients out of nursing homes and hospitals, cutting off a popular barrier island and removing a historic pier on the waterfront. Approximately 2.7 million people lost energy due to the rains and rising water levels.

Flood waters rose near Orlando, far inland, as one of the most powerful hurricanes to hit the United States crossed the peninsula. Ian’s tropical storm winds extended outward up to 415 miles (665 km), inundating much of Florida and the southeastern Atlantic coast.

We were crushed,” Lee County Mayor Carmine Marcino said on ABC’s Good Morning America. He said roads and bridges remained impassable, stranding thousands in the county as Ian made landfall north of Fort Myers. “We still can’t reach many people in need.”

Authorities have confirmed at least one person killed by the storm in Florida — a 72-year-old man in Deltona fell into a canal while using a hose to drain his pool in heavy rain, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said. Two people died in Cuba after Ian was hit there.

President Joe Biden formally issued a disaster declaration Thursday, and Dean Cresswell, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said the agency supports search and rescue efforts. The US Coast Guard also began rescue operations in the barrier islands of southwest Florida early Thursday, DeSantis said, once the winds calmed.

“The Coast Guard had people who were in their attics and they were rescued from their rooftops,” DeSantis said. “We’ve never seen a storm storm of this magnitude before…the amount of water that has been rising, and will likely continue to rise today even as the storm passes, is basically a 500-year flood event.”

Part of the Sanibel Bridge fell into the sea, cutting off access to the barrier island where 6,300 people normally live. It was not known how many responded to mandatory evacuation orders before the storm swept through the barrier islands, but Charlotte County Emergency Management Director Patrick Fuller expressed cautious optimism that worst-case scenarios might not materialize.

No deaths or injuries have been confirmed in the county, Fuller said, and the bridges over the barrier islands show “the safety of the homes is much better than we expected.”

South of Sanibel, towering waves wrecked Naples’ historic beach pier, ripping even the columns below. “At the moment, there is no berth,” said Benny Taylor, the commissioner for Collier County, which includes Naples.

Emergency crews cut down devastated trees to get to the flooded homes, but with no electricity and almost no cellular service, it was impossible for many people to call for help when the surge filled their living rooms.

“Portable towers are on their way to cellular service. It is possible that your loved ones do not have the ability to contact you,” the sheriff’s office in Collier County, which includes Naples, said. “We can tell you as daylight reveals the consequences, it is going to be a tough day.”

In Fort Myers, Valerie Bartley was horrified as her family spent desperate hours clutching a dining table to their patio door while debris crashed into their home.

“We just assumed that was tearing up our house,” she said. As the storm broke out outside, she said her 4-year-old daughter grabbed her hand and said, “I’m scared too, but things will be fine.”

Ian made landfall on Wednesday near Cayo Costa, a barrier island west of the densely populated city of Fort Myers, as a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 150 mph (241 km/h), making it the fifth strongest hurricane, when measured by Wind speed, ever hit the United States

Ian’s center came ashore more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Tampa and St. Petersburg, sparing them the first direct hit by a major hurricane since 1921. Water drained from Tampa Bay as it approached, then returned as it rose.

The National Hurricane Center said Ian was expected to regain what was once a hurricane’s strength after he plowed over Atlantic waters near Cape Canaveral, with South Carolina expecting a second US landing on Friday.

NASA’s Kennedy Space Center remained closed and restricted, except for a small riding team that spent the night there. Meanwhile, the next SpaceX astronaut’s launch to the International Space Station has been postponed until at least October 5, two days late due to Ian.

Ocean waters were receding after a gale storm sent devastating waves to downtown areas from Englewood to Bonita Beach, including Port Charlotte and Fort Myers. Cities from Orlando to Daytona Beach in northwest Florida got their turn in severe flooding before Ian moved to sea.

Paramedics moved residents from Avanti Orlando nursing home on stretchers and wheelchairs through floodwaters to waiting ambulances and buses Thursday morning. A hospital system in southwest Florida has evacuated at least 1,200 patients due to a lack of safe drinking water. And in Port Charlotte, sick staff crowded the two middle floors after an emergency room was flooded and winds blew the ceiling of an intensive care unit.

The Florida Highway Patrol closed the Florida Turnpike in the Orlando area due to significant flooding and said a major artery in the center of the state will remain closed until the waters recede.

Calls from people trapped in flooded homes or worried relatives flooded 911 lines. Appeals have also been posted on social media, some of which contain videos showing debris-covered water flowing toward the eaves of their homes.

Pittsburgh journalist Brittany Heller called lifeguards about her mother in North Fort Myers, whose home was submerged in 5 feet (1.5 meters) of water.

We don’t know when the water will run low. “We don’t know how they’re going to leave, their cars assembled,” Heller said. “Her only way out is on a boat.”

Another boat carrying Cuban migrants sank Wednesday in stormy weather east of Key West.

The US Coast Guard has launched a search and rescue mission for 23 people and found three survivors two miles (three kilometers) south of the Florida Keys, officials said. The US Border Patrol said four other Cubans swam to Stoke Island, east of Key West. The crews continued to search for the remaining 20 migrants.

In the past, the storm killed two people in Cuba and caused the country’s electricity grid to collapse.

More than 2.5 million Florida homes and businesses have been left without power, according to PowerOutage.us. Most homes and businesses were out of power in 12 counties.

At 8 a.m. Thursday, the storm was about 40 miles (70 km) east of Orlando and 10 miles (15 km) southwest of Cape Canaveral, carrying maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 km/h) and moving toward the cape at 8 mph (13 km), the center said.

Up to 30 cm of precipitation forecast for parts of northeastern Florida, coastal Georgia and the Lowcountry of South Carolina. It could fall up to 6 inches (15 cm) in southern Virginia as the storm moves inland over the Carolinas, and the center said landslides are possible in the southern Appalachian Mountains.

The governors of South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Virginia have proactively declared states of emergency.

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Associated Press contributors include Kurt Anderson in St. Petersburg; Frieda Frisaro in Miami; Anthony Isaguerre in Tallahassee; Mike Schneider in Orlando; Seth Bornstein and Aamir Madani from Washington. Bobby Caina Calvan in New York and Cristina Mesquita in Havana, Cuba.

from San Jose News Bulletin https://sjnewsbulletin.com/people-trapped-2-5-million-without-power-as-ian-floods-florida-2/