Hurricane Ian roared ashore on Wednesday afternoon, crossing the shoreline just south of Punta Gorda in Lee County on southwest Florida’s coast as a Category 4 hurricane with 150 mph winds.
The catastrophic storm surge leveled coastal communities with heart-wrenching scenes of violent flooding through Wednesday evening, as the storm tore across the Florida peninsula this morning, where catastrophic freshwater flooding is ongoing.
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Over 2.6 million Floridians were without power as of noon Thursday and Search and Rescue task forces had already rescued more than 500 survivors in Charlotte and Lee counties since starting operations this morning.
Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno earlier feared fatalities “in the hundreds” as officials scrambled to ascertain the full scope of Ian’s destruction. The focus for responders today and into the weekend will be on the life-saving and life-sustaining needs of Floridians most affected.
In southwest Florida, the skies are clearing, shining light on the extent of Ian’s destruction. Highest official wind reports so far from near the storm’s landfall in hard-hit Charlotte and Lee counties yesterday included a gust to 124 mph in Punta Gorda and gusts to 110 mph and 109 mph at Grove City and Tarpon Point, respectively.
A gust to 140 mph initially reported by a WeatherStem station at Cape Coral was estimated, not measured, after the station failure, but higher wind gusts in the landfall location were surely felt. It’ll take some time to dissect all the observations, as many stations were knocked offline during the height of the storm.
These wide and powerful winds pushed a catastrophic Gulf storm surge into Fort Myers, Charlotte Harbor, and neighboring coastal communities, totaling many places.
Only two official tide gauges – one in Naples and another up the Caloosahatchee River in Fort Myers – were operating in real-time yesterday to give spot measurements of the water levels as Ian came ashore.
Although the Naples station stopped reporting at the height of the storm (peaking at 6.18 feet before failing about two hours before landfall), both stations unsurprisingly saw their highest water levels for the periods of record which extend back to 1965. Fort Myers topped out at 7.26 feet around 6:30 PM ET yesterday before slowly receding into this morning.
The U.S. Geological Survey positioned an array of around 150 storm surge sensors, wave-measuring instruments, and other equipment ahead of Ian in coastal Florida and Georgia.
The readings aren’t available in real time, but once scientists retrieve the sensors and survey the damage, we’ll have a better idea of the scope and magnitude of the high water at the coast and well inland. Suffice it to say, Ian brought historic and record-breaking storm surge yesterday to southwest Florida.
Over the past 12 hours, Ian moved farther east and faster than originally forecast, with its center emerging back over water just north of the Space Coast and Cape Canaveral.
It continues to pummel northeast and east-central Florida with back bands of heavy rain, strong winds, flooding storm surge, and destructive waves.
Orlando smashed a 24-hour rainfall record ending this morning that alone nearly doubled their average rainfall for September. Radar estimates show a long but narrow swath of 15-20 inches focused south of I-4, with recent heavy rainfall from Cape Canaveral to St. Augustine, focused on Daytona Beach.
An unofficial report at a volunteer station of over 28 inches was reported at New Smyrna Beach this morning.
Ian is expected to regain hurricane status by this evening offshore Florida and head north toward South Carolina for Saturday.
A hurricane warning is in effect for the entire coast of South Carolina. Flooding from heavy rainfall ahead into the Carolinas will continue to be the greatest concern, worsened inland by the mountains and at the coast by a persistent storm surge not allowing floodwaters to drain and recede.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic, Tropical Depression Eleven is expected to unravel in the far eastern Atlantic and another wave exiting Africa could develop, but we’ll have plenty of time to watch.