A toll of destruction: Measuring the brutal aftermath of Hurricane Ian
Making landfall earlier this week on the west coast of Florida, Hurricane Ian’s near Category 5 intensity left behind terrible devastation, leveling homes, bringing life-threatening flooding and leaving millions without power.
The storm landed Wednesday afternoon on the island of Cayo Costa near Fort Myers and Cape Coral. It battered the west coast of Florida for hours, dumping rain and decimating homes in the process, before taking a turn toward Central Florida, passing through Orlando.
By Thursday morning, Ian had downgraded to a tropical storm, exiting Florida, and then picking up strength in the Atlantic as it traveled to the Carolinas as a hurricane.
“This is going to be a storm we talk about for years to come,” Ken Graham, director of the National Weather Service, said at a news conference earlier this week.
Millions told to evacuate
More than 2.5 million Floridians were under evacuation orders or warnings leading up to the storm’s arrival. Areas such as Charlotte, Lee, Levy, Pasco, Pinellas, Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, and Sarasota counties, as well as parts of Manatee County, had mandatory evacuation orders.
12-foot storm surge
Forecasters warned of “catastrophic” storms surge reaching 12 to 18 feet along certain parts of the west coast from Englewood to Bonita Beach, and at the Charlotte Harbor.
“Overwhelmingly it’s been that surge that’s been the biggest issue and the flooding … as a result,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a briefing earlier this week. “In some areas, we think it’s hit 12 feet.”
About half of all deaths from a hurricane come from storm surge flooding, and storm surges are considered one of the greatest threats to life and property during a storm, according to the NOAA.
Certain cities along the west coast have already reported record high flooding levels: Fort Myers reported over 7 feet of flooding and a NOAA National Ocean Service station near Fort Myers reported water levels over 7 feet.
$55 billion in damage
Early estimates put the economic damage from Hurricane Ian between $55 billion and $65 billion, according to projections released by data company Enki Research.
There are still no on-the-ground estimates on the destruction wrought by Ian, but, the Enki Research report said, “given the near total devastation of several major cities in southwest Florida like Fort Myers,” it will likely fall in that range.
If correct, it would land Ian in the middle of the list in terms of economic damage when compared to hurricanes such as Katrina, Ida and Maria, according to figures from NOAA, which measures damage to agriculture, individual payouts and disaster money from the government.
The U.S. Senate approved a stop-gap measure that would add almost $19 billion to FEMA’s disaster relief fund to help with Florida’s and Puerto Rico’s recovery from hurricanes. It was sent to the House to vote on Friday.
31 dead, 10,000 unaccounted for
In Florida, the state Medical Examiners Association reported 24 confirmed deaths as of Saturday afternoon. Most of the Florida victims drowned. Four more deaths were reported in North Carolina and three earlier in the week in Cuba, according to The Associated Press.
There are about 10,000 people unaccounted for.
Ian “could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida history,” responsible for a “substantial loss of life,” according to President Joe Biden.
150 mph wind speed
The hurricane was one of the strongest ever to make landfall in Florida, with maximum wind speeds of 150 mph, just short of a Category 5.
It’s tied for fifth in terms of maximum wind speed at landfall in the United States with other storms such as Hurricane Charley, which made landfall in Florida in 2004 and Hurricane Ida in 2021.
Knocked out power to more than 2 million
On Thursday, about 2.7 million had lost power due to the storm across Florida.
In recent days, power has been gradually restored. As of Saturday afternoon, nearly 1.2 million customers, or about 10%, were without power in the state, according to numbers from the Florida Public Service Commission.
Restoring power to parts of Southwest Florida where the hurricane hit won’t be easy, DeSantis warned, as more than likely parts of the infrastructure will have to be rebuilt.
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