Hurricane Ian was downgraded to a tropical storm Thursday morning after leaving a path of destruction across southwest Florida.
However, officials warn that Ian is still expected to bring strong winds, heavy rainfall and storm surges as he heads north through Florida to Georgia and the Carolinas.
The storm system that ravaged Florida with 150 mph winds on Wednesday has weakened and is now producing sustained winds close to 65 mph.
President Joe Biden on Thursday declared a major disaster in Florida after the massive devastation caused by one of the strongest hurricanes to hit the US. The statement will help affected individuals and municipalities to recover.
Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, as well as low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help residents and business owners recover from Ian’s effects, the White House said.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said Ian wreaked havoc and left a “historic” impact on the sunshine state.
‘We have never seen such a flood. We’ve never seen a storm surge of this magnitude and it hit an area where there are many people in many of those low-lying areas and it will eventually wreak havoc on many people’s homes,” DeSantis said Thursday.
On Thursday morning, about 2.5 million people in Florida were without electricity.
Rolling seawater poured into waterfront homes in Naples and Fort Myers, while several counties, including Charlotte and Lee, likely need to rebuild their infrastructure, DeSantis said.
It is unclear how many people in Florida were killed by the storm. A Florida sheriff said he believes the death toll will run “in the hundreds.”
Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno told ABC News his office received thousands of 911 calls from residents in need of rescue after roads were flooded and bridges were endangered.
“It crushed us,” Marceno said. “We still don’t have access to many people in need.”
An emergency room in Port Charlotte was submerged when winds ripped off the roof of the hospital’s intensive care unit. A portion of the Florida Turnpike was also shut down amid significant flooding.
Even as Ian weakened to a tropical storm on Thursday morning, it is expected to increase once it moves across the Atlantic. Ian is expected to head out of the sea at hurricane speeds toward South Carolina. A hurricane watch has been issued for South Carolina and the Georgia coast.
The storm has left 14,000 people without power in Georgia.
Central and northeast Florida could still see 20 inches of rain, while Florida’s Atlantic coast from Orlando to Georgia could see 6 feet of storm surge, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Central and northeast Florida could see 20 inches of rain, and life-threatening storm surges remain a risk for parts of Florida’s west and east coasts, the Hurricane Center said.
Florida’s Atlantic coast from northeast Orlando to Georgia could see a 6-foot storm surge, it said.
Wednesday saw between 4 and 5 inches of rain per hour in the hurricane’s heavier bands.
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