The hurricane made landfall Wednesday afternoon, bringing extreme wind and a risk of “catastrophic” storm surges.
Hurricane Ian weakened to Category 3 status Wednesday evening as it tore across inland Florida from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean, leaving more than 1.8 million Floridians without electricity and unloading intense rainfall, 12-foot storm surges and 115 mph winds.
Ian’s path. The storm is moving north-northeast toward the Atlantic Ocean at about 8 mph, with hurricane warnings in effect for Daytona Beach and Cape Canaveral and evacuation orders in place for some low-lying parts of eastern Florida. Heavy rainfall is expected across the peninsula through Thursday, likely to cause “life-threatening catastrophic flooding” even as the storm weakens, according to the NHC. After it crosses Florida, the storm is projected to move north toward the Georgia and South Carolina coastline.
