Florida will face further “catastrophic” flooding on Thursday as Hurricane Ian, which has knocked out power to more than 2.4 million people, continues east.
Florida continues to face “severe and life-threatening storm surges” as Hurricane Ian, which has been downgraded to a Category 1 storm, makes its way across the state.
Widespread “catastrophic” flooding is expected across Florida on Thursday, with hurricane-force winds continuing to do damage across central and eastern parts of the state, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
Ian brought maximum sustained wind speeds of around 75 miles per hour on Thursday morning, the NHC reports, with the hurricane making its way towards the western Atlantic while continuing to lose strength.
More than 2.3 million Floridians are without power, according to PowerOutage.US, with some western counties reporting a near-100 percent outage.
Hurricane Ian made landfall on Wednesday near Cayo Costa island in Florida at around 3pm EDT, as a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of around 150 miles per hour.
Vehicles and some structures were swept away as a path of destruction was carved through areas of western and central Florida.
Videos posted online showed entire houses being torn from their foundations, then floating down the street, near Fort Myers Beach on Estero Island, off the southwest Florida coast.
There are unconfirmed reports of people trapped in Lee County, but Sheriff Carmine Marceno told NBC News that rescue workers wouldn’t be able to respond until winds fell below 45 miles per hour.
