After devastating Florida, deadly Hurricane Ian, one of the most violent hurricanes to ever strike the United States, rushed into South Carolina on Friday.
According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), Category 1 Hurricane Ian made landfall close to Georgetown, South Carolina, with top sustained winds of 85 miles per hour (140 kilometers per hour).
The NHC said Friday evening that Ian is bringing torrential rain, flash floods, and strong gusts to South and North Carolina. It was subsequently downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone. Up to eight inches of rain are possible in some locations.
A hurricane wracked Florida; according to President Joe Biden, “The extent of the harm is now starting to become apparent.
He added that Ian plowed into Florida’s southwest coast on Wednesday as a Category 4 hurricane, just short of the most powerful on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale: “It’s likely to rank among the worst in the nation’s history.”
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23 people have died as a result of the hurricane, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement on Friday night.
Media sources citing county authorities have reported even higher death counts, with CNN reporting that Ian is responsible for 45 deaths.
According to the Coast Guard, 17 migrants are still missing from a boat that capsized on Wednesday during the storm. Nine people were saved, including four Cubans swam to shore in the Florida Keys, and one person was discovered dead.
According to Vice President Biden, it will “take months, years to recover,” with damage estimates reaching tens of billions of dollars.
It’s not simply a Florida-specific problem, he said. “America is in trouble right now.”
In Florida, wind-related losses for residential and commercial structures may cost insurers up to $32 billion. In comparison, flooding damages might reach $15 billion, according to CoreLogic, a company specializing in property research.
Since Hurricane Andrew made landfall in Florida in 1992, this storm has cost the state the most, according to Tom Larsen of CoreLogic.
‘We made it through.’
Rescue teams were helping survivors on Friday in the ravaged areas of Florida, and the US Coast Guard said that it has carried out 117 rescues of persons stranded in flooded houses using boats and helicopters.
Hundreds of more rescue workers are going door-to-door “up and down the coastline,” according to Governor Ron DeSantis.
DeSantis referred to the coastal community of Fort Myers as “ground zero” for the hurricane. Still, they said that “this was such a massive storm that there are consequences well inland,” including significant flooding in Orlando.
Before the hurricane, many Floridians left their homes, while many opted to stay put and weather the storm.
In addition, two severely damaged barrier islands near Fort Myers, Pine Island, and Sanibel Island, were shut off after the hurricane destroyed causeways to the mainland, leaving more than 1.4 million Floridians still without power on Friday.
Breathtaking devastation is seen in aerial photos and videos taken in Sanibel and elsewhere.
The causeway is shown to be fractured and eroded, with one piece covered by calm waters illuminated by the sun’s reflections.
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A recreational boat named Crackerjack is perched on a mountain of trash at Fort Myers Beach. An entire trailer park was destroyed, leaving absolutely no trace.
According to the monitoring website poweroutage.us. Approximately 500,000 people in North and South Carolina were without power as weaker Ian still tore across the states.
A few pubs and restaurants in Fort Myers reopened, creating the appearance of normality among toppled trees and broken storefronts.
Numerous individuals could be seen eating and drinking beer while sitting on terraces in the brilliant sun.
23-year-old Dylan Gamber claimed to have waited two hours at a pizzeria to get dinner to take home.
Gamber stated, “It was awful, but we got through.” “Aside from our house’s roof collapsing. A large tree falling on our cars, and our yard flooding, we were all OK.
We seem to be working together and supporting one another as a community.
“All buried,”
Jason Crosser was examining the damage to his shop in neighboring Bonita Springs.
Crosser, 37, said that “the water flowed over the whole structure.” “Everything was underwater. There is just water and saltwater damage.”
Ian is anticipated to quickly weaken after landfall in South Carolina and evaporate by Saturday night.
Ian brought all of Cuba to a complete standstill after taking out the island’s electrical network, then pounded Florida mercilessly.
Although electricity was gradually coming back, many households were still without it.
According to experts, human-induced climate change is causing more catastrophic weather events to occur all over the world, including Ian.
The torrential rain that Ian unleashed was boosted by nearly 10%. According to a quick and preliminary study conducted by US experts.