Hurricane Ian has caused power outages and flooding in the US state of Florida. The hurricane, classified as “extremely dangerous”, had reached the southwest coast of Florida at night (local time) with wind speeds of 240 kilometers per hour near Cayo Costa, as reported by the US National Hurricane Center (NHC). In the nearby city of Fort Myers, entire neighborhoods were flooded.
Images from the television station MSNBC also showed completely flooded streets in the city of Naples, in which cars were drifting. The city of Punta Gorda, further north, was hit by heavy rains, according to journalists from the AFP news agency. In the city center, palm branches were blown away by the wind.
Millions without electricity
In any case, “Ian” should be included in the list of the five worst hurricanes in Florida, said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. More than 2.4 million homes were temporarily without power during the night, according to the Poweroutage website. That’s about 20 percent of households in the state, wrote the broadcaster CNN. The southwest of the state was hardest hit.
Hurricane “Ian” had previously caused severe devastation in Cuba and then moved on to Florida. A boat carrying dozens of refugees sank off the Florida coast amid the storm. The rescue workers were able to save three people and searched for 20 missing people.
After Florida, southern states like Georgia and South Carolina prepared for “Ian”. The hurricane killed at least two people in Cuba. The power was temporarily out on the entire Caribbean island.