Possible ‘deadliest hurricane in Florida history’ heads for Carolinas as Tropical Storm Ian

Hurricane Ian was downgraded to a tropical storm Thursday as it leaves Florida behind, only to become a hurricane again this evening on its way to the Carolinas. Across Florida, the storm’s consequences linger long after the eye has passed, as more storm surge and flooding continue to threaten residents across the state.

“The amount of water that has been rising and will likely continue to rise today, even as the storm is passing, is basically a 500-year flood event,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a briefing Thursday morning.

As of 5 p.m., the storm was 40 miles north-northeast of Cape Canaveral and 275 miles south of Charleston, S.C., with top winds that increased Thursday afternoon to 70 mph, down from its 155-mph peak Wednesday. It was heading north northeast at 9 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Ian is forecast to move off the east coast of Florida later in the day on Thursday, the center’s latest advisory said. It will then go north overnight toward the South Carolina coast, expected to strengthen into a hurricane again this evening and make landfall as a hurricane on Friday, forecast to produce “life-threatening flooding, storm surge, and strong winds across portions of Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas.”

A hurricane warning has been issued for the entire coast of South Carolina, and a storm surge warning was also issued for several parts of the state, with “rapid weakening” forecast after landfall.

Meanwhile, rescue work for people trapped in the flooded neighborhoods of Southwest Florida began Wednesday and continued Thursday as the sun came up, the winds died down, and the extent of Ian’s destruction began to reveal itself.

At a news conference Thursday, President Joe Biden said Ian “could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida history,” responsible for a “substantial loss of life.”

A Charlotte County commissioner told CNN there were at least “eight or nine” deaths there. The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office said that it is investigating two fatalities, the Miami Herald reported.

DeSantis declined to speculate on the number of fatalities at news conferences Thursday morning and afternoon, but said that Lee County had received hundreds of calls for help from residents.

At the Thursday afternoon briefing, the governor encouraged people to send financial aid, not supplies. So far, he said, the Florida Disaster Fund has raised $2 million in 24 hours.

The Coast Guard and the United States Army Reserve have been performing rescue missions in the area, while engineers on site began to do bridge inspections. Some bridges, such as Pine Island Bridge, are no longer passable, DeSantis said. The storm tore an entire section out of the Sanibel Causeway.

“Sanibel is destruction,” DeSantis said. “It got hit with a really biblical storm surge.”

Lee and Charlotte counties were practically “off the grid” as of Thursday morning, DeSantis said, with 2.5 million power outages reported so far across the state, 1.5 million of which are in Southwest Florida, according to the governor’s office. Returning to the grid may not happen overnight.

“Reconnects are going to have to be a rebuilding of that infrastructure,” DeSantis said. “That’s going to be more than just connecting a powerline back to a pole.”

Ian had made landfall on the Florida mainland at 4:35 p.m. Wednesday just south of Punta Gorda, coming ashore with 145 mph winds, the National Hurricane Center said. The storm previously made landfall on the island of Cayo Costa off Fort Myers.

A wind tower near Punta Gorda clocked sustained winds of 55 mph with a gust of 78 mph, the hurricane center said in a 9 p.m. update, while a station at Punta Gorda Airport measured a gust of 109 mph shortly before 8 p.m.

“This is going to be a storm we talk about for years to come,” Ken Graham, director of the National Weather Service, had said at a news conference Wednesday morning.

Despite the attention given to high winds, the biggest killer in hurricanes tends to be water. After submerging much of southwest Florida on Wednesday, Ian churned up through central Florida overnight and into Thursday, bringing heavy rainfall and flooding across the region. Rivers overflowed onto major streets. Some bodies of water, like Shingle Creek near Kissimmee, broke records, reaching the highest levels ever reported.

Forecasters had predicted that central and northeast west Florida could see between 12 and 18 inches of rain, with a maximum of 24 inches in some areas, while northeast Florida would get between 6 and 10 inches with up to 1 foot in some areas.

As of Thursday evening, parts of the Orlando metropolitan area received over 14 inches, city officials told the Orlando Sentinel.

In the cities of Kissimmee and New Smyrna Beach, residents and local media outlets shared videos of major streets flooded with water.

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Multiple flash flood emergencies were in effect Thursday morning after Ian ground through the east-central part of the state, including parts of Volusia County and the area surrounding Little Wekiva River. At least one person in Volusia County has died, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

Meanwhile, areas of South Florida received nearly 10 inches of rain over the past 3 days from Hurricane Ian, according to the National Weather Service. The western fringes of Broward were hit hardest.

In South Florida, much of the destruction occurred Tuesday night, when Ian spawned at least two tornadoes in Broward County and one in Palm Beach County, the National Weather Service said. A tornado near Kings Point, close to Delray Beach, toppled trees, wrecked cars, damaged apartments, and displaced 35 people.

Experts expect tropical-storm-force winds will subside in Palm Beach County some time Thursday afternoon and on Thursday morning in Broward County.

Palm Beach County saw peak sustained winds of 50 to 60 mph as of 5 p.m. Wednesday while Broward and Miami-Dade saw between 40 and 50 mph, the weather service report said.

The governor’s office reported that 42,000 crew members from utilities across Florida are currently working to restore power.

Florida Power and Light reported restoring power to 750,000 customers before the storm left Florida, while 1.2 million remain without power as of 4 p.m. Thursday.

“We did not lose one single transmission tower,” said Eric Silagy, the president of FPL, at the press conference Thursday afternoon. “That is critical. The backbone is up.”

The new tropical depression that formed Wednesday morning dissipated Thursday evening, the hurricane center said.

The next named storm to form would be Julia.

Hurricane season ends Nov. 30.

Staff writers Ron Hurtibise, David Lyons, Rafael Olmeda, Lois Solomon and Scott Travis contributed to this report. Information from the Associated Press was also used.