People confined to their houses as Hurricane Ian floods southwest Florida

One of the strongest storms ever recorded in the US, Hurricane Ian, swamped southwest Florida on Wednesday, turning streets into rivers, cutting power to 1.8 million people, and posing a serious threat to farther inland areas.

 

A sheriff’s office on the coast stated that it was receiving many calls from people who were trapped in flooded homes. People in need posted pleas for help for themselves or loved ones on Facebook and other social media platforms. Some video showed debris-covered water sloshing toward homes’ eaves.

Near Cayo Costa, a barrier island west of densely populated Fort Myers, the hurricane’s centre made landfall. Water drained from Tampa Bay as it drew near. Around the time the hurricane came ashore from the Gulf of Mexico, about 35 miles (55 kilometres) to the south, Mark Pritchett left his home in Venice. It was ‘terrifying,’ he said.

 

Pritchett wrote that he ‘literally couldn’t stand against the wind.’ ‘Rain shooting like needles. My street is a river. Limbs and trees down. And the worst is yet to come.’ The Category 4 storm slammed the coast with 150 mph (241 kph) winds and pushed a wall of storm surge accumulated during its slow march over the Gulf. According to PowerOutage.us, more than 1.8 million households and businesses in Florida were without electricity. Three counties’ worth of homes and businesses were all without power.