The category 4 Hurricane came on land at the Florida South West coast with winds of 150 mph….
It is the 5th strongest US Hurricane….
One million have lost power…
The storm has actually pulled water from Tampa Bay on its arrival, but will send it back in a storm swell that will create over flow flooding….
Gov DeSantis….‘This is going to be a very nasty, nasty day’…..
Update…
Over 2 million without power in Florida
Over 2 million customers in Florida were without power as of 10:15 p.m. local time on Wednesday, according to PowerOutage.us, as Hurricane Ian continued to batter the state’s western coast.
Power was almost entirely lost in DeSoto and Charlotte counties, according to the site, which tracks outages across the state, and large swaths of the population generally lost power across counties in the southwest.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned the public on Twitter late Wednesday to keep generators “20 feet outside” of their homes.
“After #HurricaneIan passes, be careful going outside. Make sure to avoid downed power lines, avoid standing water, stay clear of trees, do not drive in standing water and keep generators 20 feet outside of your home,” he tweeted….
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Here’s what to know
Ian weakens, but remains a dangerous Category 3 storm
As Hurricane Ian moved inland Wednesday night, its strongest sustained winds weakened to 115 mph — diminished slightly from a monstrous landfall, but still a dangerous Category 3 storm.
But Floridians were warned not to let down their guard. The National Hurricane Center said Ian remained capable of “catastrophic storm surge, winds, and flooding” as it moves across the state toward the northeast at 8 mph.
Hurricane warnings remain in effect across Florida’s Gulf Coast and on a portion of its Atlantic Coast, as well. The Hurricane Center predicts Ian will cross into the Atlantic some time Thursday afternoon before making landfall in South Carolina or Georgia, likely as a strong tropical storm, on Friday…
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DeSantis NEEDS help from Biden…Biden NEEDS to be seem giving it….
For now, President Joe Biden and GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis have set politics aside to deal with Hurricane Ian as it bears down on Florida.
The two leaders, the politicians most on the line in responding to a natural disaster of this scale, talked for “some time” Tuesday night, Biden said Wednesday during the White House conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health.
“I made it clear to the governor and the mayors that the federal government is ready to help in every single way possible,” Biden said. “We’ll be there every step of the way.”….
This is a developing story that will be updates….