Hurricane Ian downgraded to Category 2 but leaves 1.8 million Florida homes and businesses without power

Hurricane Ian continues to devastate the Florida panhandle with “catastrophic storm surges”, but now with maximum winds of 95 mph, which downgrades it to category 2, while moving northeast at 8 mph, according to the report from the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC).

While the storm hits the Florida coast, nearly every home and business in three counties was without power, the Associated Press reports.

In total, more than 1.8 million Florida homes and businesses were without power , being this only one of the problems of the citizens after the passage of Ian.

For example, in Naples, the first floor of a fire station was flooded with approximately 3 feet of water and firefighters worked to rescue equipment from a rescue truck stuck outside the garage in even deeper water , showed a video published by the Department of Naples Fire Department.

At 8: 00 at night local time, the eye of Ian, which has lowered the strength of its winds when making landfall today in Florida, was located at 30 miles northeast of Punta Gorda and 95 miles south of Orlando.

In Cape Coral, multiple fallen trees and detachment of structures have been reported, due to the strong winds that hit that region of Florida today. In social networks, multiple videos show the ravages of the powerful storm.

Furthermore, Fort Myers, the place where the category 4 hurricane hit, recorded winds of more than 125 miles per hour, which soon spread to the rest of the Florida coast.

A camera placed 6 feet above the ground on Estero Blvd in Fort Myers Beach, Florida, captured the chilling moment Hurricane Ian engulfs the street with its powerful storm surge.

On the forecast track, Ian’s eye is expected to move across central Florida tonight and Thursday morning, then emerge over the western Atlantic late Thursday.

Ian, the fourth hurricane of the current Atlantic season, is expected to turn north on Friday and approach the coasts of northeast Florida and the states of Georgia and South Carolina.

The National Weather Service and local authorities have advised residents to stay protected, away from hazards such as falling tree limbs and power lines.

Ian’s strength at landfall tied it for the fifth strongest hurricane when measured by wind speed to hit the US. Among the other storms was Hurricane Charley, which hit about the same place in the Florida coast in August 2004, killing 10 people and inflicting $14 $1 billion in damage.