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Hurricane Ian isn’t expected to make landfall in South Carolina until this afternoon, but flooding has already forced road closures in Charleston’s historic downtown, and winds near the city are gusting at hurricane speeds.
It’s the latest impact of the storm that inundated wide sections of the Florida peninsula — and Ian is expected to bring power outages and flooding to South Carolina and southeastern North Carolina when it makes landfall Friday afternoon.
A hurricane warning now covers all of the South Carolina coast and part of the North Carolina shore up to Cape Fear — meaning hurricane conditions are expected within that area.
Hours ahead of Ian’s arrival, a weather buoy in the ocean 41 nautical miles southeast of Charleston recorded winds of about 75 mph, with waves as tall as 21 feet, the National Weather Service said. Earlier this week, no waves at the buoy measured higher than 4 feet.Coastal communities again brace for Ian’s storm surge
The latest forecast track predicts Ian will make landfall northeast of Charleston, between the port city and Myrtle Beach.
