After crossing Florida….
It regains strength and moves Northward…..
Florida has sunshine today as its residents survey the damage from the storm….
President Biden declared an emergency in South Carolina hours ahead of Hurricane Ian’s expected landfall near Charleston around midday Friday. The White House will dispatch federal assistance to supplement local response efforts, and the National Hurricane Center warned of “life-threatening flooding, storm surge and strong winds” in the Carolinas.
With Ian less than 100 miles offshore, wind and rain are increasing along the Carolina coasts, and the worst of the storm is expected over the next several hours. Rainfall has already prompted flash flood warnings in areas, including Charleston.
In Florida, officials there were assessing the extent of damage that Ian left behind, with several areas still reeling from its destructive storm surges. Rubble was strewn across Florida’s western coast, and nearly 2 million customers still without power as mid morning. State officials said they had confirmed at least one storm-related death, with nearly two dozen fatalities that had been unconfirmed as of Friday. Search efforts continue, with more than 700 confirmed rescues confirmed as of late Thursday….
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Here’s what to know
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said during a Friday news conference that assessing the damage and restoring utilities continue to be state officials’ top priorities two days after Hurricane Ian slammed southwest Florida as a Category 4 storm with winds up to 150 mph.
“The power is a big issue,” DeSantis said. “[Emergency responders] are working 24/7 to restore power all across Florida.”
As of 6 a.m. Friday, 1.9 million customers remain without power….
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Hurricane Ian could spawn a few tornadoes as it makes landfall in South Carolina today, particularly over eastern North Carolina and southeast Virginia north of the storm’s center. Tornadoes are common with landfalling tropical cyclones, and several already touched down on Tuesday in Fort Lauderdale and across the Florida Everglades. One of them was rated an EF2.
As Ian makes landfall, winds near the surface will encounter frictional drag resulting from the rugged land and vegetation, but winds aloft will rush onward unimpeded. That will make for a change of wind speed with height known as wind shear. Any cloud that spans multiple layers of atmosphere in a sheared environment is subject to rotate…
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The economic devastation left behind by Hurricane Ian in Florida is likely to put further pressure on the state’s fragile insurance system. A Fitch Ratings analysis Thursday estimated insured cost losses could be from $25 billion to $40 billion in the state.
About a dozen firms that provide homeowners insurance in Florida have become insolvent in the past two years, according to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, leaving hundreds of thousands of property owners scrambling for coverage…
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“This is the price you pay for living on the beach,” he said, having moved to the area five years ago from Sacramento. “I thought, well, it’s going to be a four-foot surge, big deal, so I didn’t do anything.”….