Hurricane Ian came and went leaving a path of utter destruction on the gulf coast of Florida Wednesday.
Fort Meyers was especially hard hit as the storm took what seemed to be a last-minute shift south nailing the city head-on. Areas like Sanibel Island right along the coast look like total losses in areas with the Sanibel Causeway — which connects Sanibel to the mainland — collapsed in multiple areas.
Storm surges reportedly got as high as 12 feet in some areas affected by the storm stranding those who chose to ride out the Hurricane.
At this point, it’s unclear how many deaths can be contributed to Ian which is now tied for the fifth strongest storm to hit the United States.
Most deaths in these cases are likely the result of those same dangerous and unpredictable storm surges which ravaged the aforementioned Sanibel Island and Fort Meyers Beach.
Flooding from Ian’s storm surge — the rise in ocean water above normally dry land — probably peaked as high as 12 feet in some areas of Florida, the governor said. The surge increased to over seven feet in Fort Myers, nearly four feet higher than the next highest surge in 50 years of observations. The tide gauge in Naples also posted its highest level on record, with a surge of at least seven feet. Boardwalk cameras and videos captured from high-rises in Fort Myers Beach, a barrier island taking the brunt of Hurricane Ian’s strongest winds, showed pounding waves carrying large amounts of debris and, in at least one video, the roof of a building.
Washington Post
As the Hurricane weakened to a tropical storm over the Florida peninsula, it still dumped massive amounts of rain over the central part of the state causing more dangerous flooding. And as it’s made it’s way offshore, Ian has once again reorganized and strengthened to a category one hurricane hitting the Georgia coast and South Carolina.