Residents search for missing after Hurricane Ian rips through Florida's Gulf Coast
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Loading... - Colbie Messina
- 29 Sep 2022
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Rescue workers and residents of Florida's Gulf Coast searched for missing people and picked up the pieces from wrecked homes on Thursday after Hurricane Ian tore through the area with howling winds, torrential rains and raging surf.
One of the mightiest storms to hit the U.S. mainland in recent years, Ian flooded communities and left more than two million homes and businesses without power before barreling on across the peninsula to the Atlantic seaboard.
It was downgraded to a tropical storm on Thursday morning as it weakened over land.
Ian blasted ashore at the barrier island of Cayo Costa on Wednesday afternoon as a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 150 miles per hour (241 kph).
An unspecified number of people were stranded after choosing to ride it out at home rather than heed evacuation orders, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said.
In the early morning hours after it passed, residents in hard-hit areas hunted for family and friends as trees, debris and power lines covered roads and standing water washed over the ground. The search was made more difficult as cell phone services were often cut.
"A lot of down trees, a lot of flooding everywhere. We are trying to get a hold of my daughter," said Terri Byrd as she sat in a vehicle in a Walmart parking lot trying to get cell service after spending the night at an elementary school in Venice.
Ian slackened as it trekked across Florida but was still producing strong winds, heavy rains and storm surge, including in Georgia and the Carolinas, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
The storm, packing maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph), was about 40 miles (70 km) southeast of Orlando, the Miami-based forecaster said.
President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration on Thursday, making federal resources available to the counties impacted by the storm. Read More...
