Southwest Florida
prepares for Hurricane Ian
Families and businesses in
Fort Myers and Punta Gorda are preparing for Hurricane Ian to make
landfall.
Accuweather, Accuweather
TALLAHASSEE — Hurricane Ian continued its wobbly path toward
Florida, as a likely landfall site Wednesday
night, Gov. Ron DeSantis said.
The city of Venice in Sarasota was earlier projected as the
Category 3 hurricane likely location for touching the Florida
mainland. But the trajectory is now taking the storm packing 120
m.p.h. winds a bit further south, according to the National
Hurricane Center.
“This thing’s the real deal,” DeSantis said Tuesday evening at
the state’s Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee. “It’s a
major, major storm.”
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latest on the storm's impact to Florida
Nudes of vanessa williams along the west coast – more than one-tenth of
the state’s population. Fifty-six counties now have announced
school closures as Ian approaches.
Tolls have been lifted on roadways in the evacuation counties,
with the covered area now expanded into much of Central Florida.
State officials said they haven’t heard problems from evacuees
finding no hotel space along their routes.
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Florida Power & Light, the state’s largest utility serving more
than 12 million people, said customers should anticipate outages,
even potentially prolonged ones lasting between 12 and 24 hours or
several days, depending on the strength and speed of Hurricane Ian,
FPL CEO Eric Silagy told reporters on Tuesday.
FPL has deployed nearly 16,000 men and women, including help
from 27 states, to restore power to the service area impacted by
feeder bands from “this dangerous, damaging and slow-moving storm,”
Silagy said.
He added that FPL’s investment of several hundred million
dollars in storm hardening has improved restoration times, but that
“there is no such thing as a hurricane-proof electrical grid.”
Tropical storm force wind and rain were pelting the Florida
Keys late Tuesday as Hurricane Ian advanced on the state, with
tornadoes likely overnight, Gov. Ron DeSantis
and other officials said in an 11 p.m. briefing at
the state’s Emergency Operations Center in
Tallahassee.
The hurricane, which caused widespread damage and
flooding while crossing western Cuba, is
expected to make landfall in Southwest
Florida possibly as a powerful, Category 4
storm Wednesday evening, with winds topping 130
m.p.h.
Power outages were already occurring in the Keys and South
Florida.
But officials said that while severe
winds will rock coastal communities from Sarasota to Fort
Myers, 10-12-foot storm surge and flooding was certain to
bring damage not just to the coast, but also to Central
Florida inland counties as Ian carves a path
across the state, likely downgrading in strength to a
tropical storm.
It is expected to exit the state Friday near Volusia County
on the Atlantic coast.
“This is a lot of nasty weather that we’re in store for over the
next few days,” DeSantis said.
FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell, speaking at a White House
briefing, said the storm will make landfall somewhere between
Tampa and Fort Myers. The entire state will be affected, and
"everyone needs to stay focused," she said. By the time
Ian reaches Florida, the storm will slow to about 5 mph, which
means storm surge is the biggest concern, she said.
"This is significant because what his means is that Floridians
are going to experience the impacts of this storm for a very long
time," she said.
President Joe Biden and Gov. Ron DeSantis communicated with each
other late Tuesday, with Hurricane Ian fast approaching Florida,
according to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
“President Biden spoke this evening with Governor DeSantis of
Florida to discuss the steps the Federal government is taking to
help Florida prepare for Hurricane Ian. The President and the
Governor committed to continued close
coordination,” Sweet toni snapchat.
The call occurred between the two at 6:30 p.m., according to the
governor’s schedule.
The president had previously spoken to the mayors of Tampa, St.
Petersburg and Clearwater about the storm.
Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne
Criswell said she and DeSantis had spoken last Friday.
Criswell said Biden is “very focused” on making sure Florida has
the resources it needs.
Among the 2.5 million Floridians under mandatory or voluntary
evacuation orders from local officials is Charlotte County resident
Connie Gosselin.
She told CNN Tuesday this was her first hurricane and that
she felt safer riding out the storm in a local shelter instead of
her home.
“I’ve never been in a hurricane,” said Gosselin. “This is my
first time and my first time at a shelter, but I feel better here
than if I would all alone at home.”
Charlotte County emergency management officials issued
evacuation orders early Tuesday for local residents that includes
those living on the barrier islands of Don Pedro Island, Knight
Island (Palm Island), Little Gasparilla Island, Gasparilla Island,
and Manasota Key, along with those residing in mobile homes and
trailers.
Gov. Ron DeSantis is scheduled to hold a 5:30 p.m. press
conference regarding Hurricane Ian this afternoon at the State
Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee. It's the third briefing
he's held with reporters on Tuesday as Hurricane Ian gains strength
and closes in on Florida.
He will be joined by Florida Division of Emergency Management
Director Kevin Guthrie, Florida Department of Transportation
Secretary Jared Perdue and National Guard Major General James
O. Eifert
Harper and livthe “State Assistance Information Line” or
SAIL, to provide an additional resource for Floridians to receive
up-to-date information regarding Hurricane Ian.
Residents and visitors can call the following toll-free hotline:
1-800-342-3557.
Florida’s main disaster assistance center for information is its
www.floridadisaster.org
As Hurricane Ian churns closer to the U.S., Florida's
theme parks are hurriedly preparing for its arrival.
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay is just miles from the stretch of
Florida's Gulf Coast where Ian is expected to make
landfall. It was the first park to shutter ahead of the
storm. LEGOLAND Florida also will
close. Precautionary measures are underway elsewhere,
including at Walt Disney World, which announced
several closures.
"Everything revolves around the safety of our guests and team
members," Universal Orlando Resort said in a statement to USA
TODAY.
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President Biden on Tuesday sought to reassure millions of
Florida residents in the path of Hurricane Ian that federal
emergency management officials are on the ground and ready to
assist the state before, during and after the dangerous storm
strikes the state.
Biden, speaking from the White House Rose Garden, said he spoke
by telephone with the mayors of Tampa, St. Petersburg and
Clearwater.
“I told each one of them [that] whatever they need … contact me
directly and they know how to do that,” he said. “I have a lot of
personnel down there already. We're here to support them in every
way we can.”
Biden also urged Floridians to obey instructions of state and
local officials to evacuate when ordered.
“Your safety is more important than anything,” he said. “I know
our hearts are with everyone who will feel the effects of this
storm and will be with you every step of the way. We're not going
away.”
At an afternoon White House briefing with reporters, Federal
Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell said her
agency and Florida officials were working very closely together in
preparation for the storm.
Criswell said she spoke with DeSantis on Friday, as directed by
Biden, and that the federal government had a strong team working
side-by-side with the governor and his staff that would continue to
engage with him.
She said that Gracia B. Szczech, regional administrator for FEMA
Region 4, is traveling with the governor "to a few areas" Tuesday
to make sure they understand their emergency response needs.
“I think the communication we have had with the state officials
has been excellent,’ Criswell said.
Cape Coral Mayor John Gunter, whose southwest Florida city has
miles and miles of canals, said predictions of five to 10 feet of
storm surge could be “catastrophic” in some areas.
“We cannot take this storm for granted,” he told CNN on Tuesday.
“This is a major hurricane with some catastrophic possibilities for
our community.”
“We are preparing for the worst and hoping for the best,” he
said.
Cape Coral is in Lee County, where local officials Tuesday
morning ordered the mandatory evacuation of people in low-lying
areas and those most at risk from expected flooding due to storm
surge created by the advance of Hurricane Ian.
The state has 5,000 Florida National Guard members in place to
assist with the storm and its aftermath. Another 28,000 utility
personnel also have been deployed in Florida to help with power
restoration, DeSantis said.
Guthrie said potential power outages can be expected statewide.
He also said those looking to leave the storm's path may not have
to go far.
"Many people in the Southwest Florida area, your best bet is
going to be evacuate across the state," Guthrie said. "Just go
straight across the state to Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm
Beach."
Florida Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said Tuesday
that potential power outages can be expected statewide. He also
said those looking to leave the storm's path may not have to go
far.
"Many people in the Southwest Florida area, your best bet is
going to be evacuate across the state," Guthrie said. "Just go
straight across the state to Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm
Beach."
Tampa and St. Petersburg appear to be the among the most likely
targets for a direct hit, their first by a major hurricane since
1921. Ian was forecast to emerge over the southeastern Gulf of
Mexico on Tuesday and approach the west coast of Florida
Wednesday and Wednesday night. The storm is predicted to slow
during this period, the National Hurricane Center warned in an
advisory.
"This would likely prolong the storm surge, wind and
rainfall impacts along the affected portions of the west coast of
Florida," the advisory says.
Sen. Marco Rubio recalls a meeting years ago at the National
Hurricane Center and asking the expert weather forecasters about
Florida’s worst possible storm scenario, and was told it would be a
powerful hurricane that stalls off the coast and triggers a massive
storm surge.
“They described basically what we're facing right now,” Rubio
told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday night.
Hurricane Ian is expected to plow across Cuba Tuesday before
emerging in the relatively warm Gulf of Mexico, where some models
call for it to stall for upwards of a day before the eye moves onto
land.
“[It] doesn't even have to make landfall over Florida, just
stalls off the coast and pushes a bunch of water into the Tampa Bay
region and into the western part of the state,” said Rubio said.
“That's what we're facing now — potentially the worst case scenario
in terms of storm surge.”
Florida’s Gulf Coast residents, said Rubio, need to follow the
advice of state and local officials to get out of low-lying areas
because storm surges of five and 10 feet “are not survivable.”
“The only way to avoid dying in that is to leave when they tell
you to leave,” he said. “They're not just arbitrarily telling you
to leave. [Authorities] know the areas that are most vulnerable to
this.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis is scheduled to hold a press conference
regarding Hurricane Ian this morning at the State Emergency
Operations Center in Tallahassee.
Hurricane Ian made landfall in Cuba as a Category 3 storm and
could hit Florida’s west coast as a Category 4 hurricane as early
as Wednesday.
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