Ian strengthened back into a Category 1 hurricane late Thursday and was set to make landfall Friday afternoon on the coast of South Carolina before moving inland across the state and into North Carolina by Saturday.
Meanwhile across Florida, the death toll was rising as more than 2 million customers were without power Friday morning following one of the strongest systems in U.S. history, according to utility tracker poweroutage.us.
Ian strengthened into an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm Wednesday and roared to the brink of Category 5 status, its maximum sustained winds blasting at 155 mph as the west coast of Florida braced for landfall Wednesday afternoon.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis described the storm as “500-year flooding event” and said Coast Guard helicopters were plucking trapped residents from the roofs of homes. Communities across the state were or will be swamped by the overwhelming waters, he said.
The storm previously tore into Cuba, killing two people and bringing down the entire country’s electrical grid.
Hurricane Ian projected path
Heavy rains and tropical storm conditions had already reached the coasts of Georgia and the Carolinas by Friday morning, where life-threatening storm surge and hurricane conditions were expected to develop. Rainfall of up to 8 inches threatened flooding from South Carolina to Virginia, the National Weather Service reported.
Meteorologists were expecting conditions to steadily deteriorate across Charleston on Friday morning, when Ian was located 105 miles south-southeast of the coastal city with 85 mph winds. Traffic had cleared the streets, muting the typically bustling morning commute ahead of the storm.
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How will Hurricane Ian affect Delaware?
After slowly moving across Florida, Hurricane Ian gained new strength over the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday before wreaking havoc on South Carolina, Georgia and more states along the East Coast.
Delaware likely will be spared from much of the hurricane with the current track showing the storm moving north west toward the Virginias.
Flash flooding has a slight possibility, or 15 percent chance, of hitting southern Delaware and a marginal, or 5 percent, possibility of occurring throughout the rest of the state, according to a three-day outlook from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Extended weather forecasts for Rehoboth Beach call for increasing winds from Friday through Tuesday, with high probabilities of rain on Saturday and Sunday. It’s expected that if the storm moves into Delaware, it will be a shell of the storm that will impact Florida. The maximum wind speeds in Delaware aren’t expected to reach over 30 mph.
The National Weather Service has issued no warnings or advisories for Delaware as of 9 a.m. Friday.
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