CNN
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As Florida contends with the ruinous damage left behind by Hurricane Ian in what officials say is likely the largest natural disaster in the state’s history, residents in South Carolina are bracing for the storm’s expected landfall mid-day Friday.
Hurricane Ian re-strengthened in the Atlantic after killing at least 19 in Florida and leaving millions without power, packing sustained winds of 85 mph on its way toward the South Carolina coast as of 5 a.m. ET Friday, with landfall expected Friday afternoon between Charleston and Myrtle Beach, forecasters said.
The storm’s destructive crawl across Florida brought extraordinary flooding and storm surges, prompting the largest emergency response in the state’s history, state Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis told CNN Thursday. Hundreds of rescues have been taking place by land, air and sea, with residents trapped in their homes or stranded on rooftops. Some homes in Fort Myers Beach have been reduced to nothing but concrete slabs, Gov. Ron DeSantis said, calling the damage in parts of the state “indescribable.”
The hurricane slammed into Florida’s southwestern coast Wednesday as a Category 4 storm, with winds that reached as high as 140 mph, inflicting vast damage to homes, vehicles and businesses. And officials are warning it will be a long road to recovery.
Here’s what to know:
• Dozens of deaths reported: At least 19 storm-related deaths have been reported so far in Florida, though that number is likely to rise. A majority of those fatalities are in hard-hit Lee and Charlotte counties. President Joe Biden said Thursday that Ian could be “the deadliest hurricane in Florida’s history.”
• More than 2 million outages: Millions of Floridians who were in Ian’s path are still in the dark as of early Friday, according to PowerOutage.us. Most counties with the highest percentage of residents without power lie in the southwest, including Lee, Charlotte, DeSoto and Hardee.
• Historic flooding in some areas: Record flooding was recorded across central and northern Florida, including at least three rivers that hit all-time flood records. Officials in Orlando warned residents of dangerous flooding, which exceeded a foot in some areas. Some standing water was electrified, they said.
• Hundreds of rescues and thousands of evacuations: There have been more than 700 rescues across the state so far, the governor said Thursday, and thousands of evacuees have been reported. In Lee County, a hospital system had to evacuate more than 1,000 patients after its water supply was cut off, while other widespread evacuations have been reported in prisons and nursing homes.
• Coastal islands completely isolated from mainland: Sanibel and Captiva islands in southwest Florida are completely cut off from the mainland after several parts of the critical causeway were torn away. At least two people were killed in the storm in Sanibel and the causeway may need to be completely rebuilt, local officials said. Chip Farrar, a resident of the tiny island of Matlacha, told CNN that 50 feet of road essential to reaching the mainland bridge has been washed out, and a second nearby bridge has also collapsed.
• Storm’s impacts today: A hurricane warning has been issued from the Savannah River at the Georgia-South Carolina state line to Cape Fear, North Carolina. Considerable flooding is possible from seawater and rain, especially in parts of coastal South Carolina, where storm surge up to 7 feet and 4 to 12 inches of rain could hit, forecasters say.
As Hurricane Ian moves away from Florida, governors in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Virginia have declared emergencies.
In South Carolina, Gov. Henry McMaster implored residents not to underestimate the storm’s danger and urged them to follow storm warnings closely to prepare for impact on Friday.
When all is said and done, Ian’s storm system will likely have left behind lasting changes in its wake.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Giorgio Viera/AFP/Getty Images
A man takes photos Thursday, September 29, of boats that were damaged by Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers, Florida.
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Bob Levitt returns to his condemned home to retrieve his cat, which he found hiding in a bedroom Thursday in Palm Beach County, Florida. A tornado spawned by the hurricane left residents homeless.
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Wilfredo Lee/AP
This aerial photo shows damaged homes and debris in Fort Myers Beach on Thursday.
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Jake Moses and Heather Jones explore a section of destroyed businesses in Fort Myers Beach, Florida, on Thursday.
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Workers in Naples, Florida, clean up debris on Thursday.
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A section of the Sanibel Causeway is seen on Thursday after it collapsed due to the effects of the storm..
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Stedi Scuderi looks over her flooded apartment in Fort Myers on Thursday.
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A boat lies partially submerged in Punta Gorda, Florida, on Thursday.
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Tom Park begins cleaning up in Punta Gorda on Thursday.
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Residents of Port Charlotte, Florida, line up for free food that was being distributed from a taco truck on Thursday.
according to live video from CNN affiliate WBBH. The causeway is the only way to get to or from Sanibel and Captiva Islands to Florida’s mainland.” class=”gallery-image__dam-img” height=”1667″/>Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
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People clear a large tree off their home in Fort Myers on Thursday.
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Homes are flooded in Port Charlotte on Thursday.
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Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Brenda Brennan sits next to a boat that pushed up against her apartment building in Fort Myers on Thursday. She said the boat floated in around 7 p.m. Wednesday.
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People walk along the beach looking at property damaged in Bonita Springs, Florida, on Thursday.
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John Raoux/AP
An Orlando resident is rescued from floodwaters on Thursday.
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Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Vehicles make their way through flooded streets in Fort Myers on Thursday.
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Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Stefanie Karas stands in her flooded apartment in Fort Myers on Thursday. She is an artist and was salvaging what she could from her home.
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Wilfredo Lee/AP
Heavily damaged homes are seen on Sanibel Island on Thursday.
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Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times/ZUMA Presss
A spiral staircase lies next to a damaged pickup truck in Sanibel, Florida, on Thursday.
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Marco Bello/Reuters
A flooded street is seen in downtown Fort Myers after Ian made landfall on Wednesday, September 28.
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Marco Bello/Reuters
A woman surveys damage through a door during a power outage in Fort Myers on Wednesday.
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NOAA/NASA
A satellite image shows the hurricane making landfall on the southwest coast of Florida on Wednesday.
shelter in place until further notice.” class=”gallery-image__dam-img” height=”1042″/>Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Naples Police
water was receding due to a negative storm surge.” class=”gallery-image__dam-img” height=”1264″/>Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
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Ricardo Arduengo/AFP/Getty Images
Strong winds hit Punta Gorda on Wednesday.
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Ben Hendren/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
A woman holds an umbrella inverted by the wind in Tampa on Wednesday.
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Pedro Portal/El Nuevo Herald/TNS/Abaca/Reuters
Sailboats anchored in Roberts Bay are blown around in Venice, Florida, on Wednesday.
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Melvin Phillips stands in the flooded basement of his mobile home in Stuart, Florida, on Wednesday.
water was receding from Tampa Bay on Wednesday.” class=”gallery-image__dam-img” height=”1125″/>Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
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Officials believe it was caused by a tornado fueled by Hurricane Ian.” class=”gallery-image__dam-img” height=”1332″/>Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
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Marco Bello/Reuters
A TV crew broadcasts from the beach in Fort Myers on Wednesday.
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Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel/AP
Utility trucks are staged in a rural lot Wednesday in The Villages, a Florida retirement community.
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Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
Highways in Tampa are empty Wednesday ahead of Hurricane Ian making landfall. Several coastal counties in western Florida were under mandatory evacuations.
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Wilfredo Lee/AP
An airplane is overturned in Pembroke Pines, Florida, on Wednesday.
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Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP
Zuram Rodriguez surveys the damage around her home in Davie, Florida, early on Wednesday.
causing an islandwide blackout.” class=”gallery-image__dam-img” height=”1953″/>Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Ramon Espinosa/AP
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People walk through a flooded street in Batabano, Cuba, on Tuesday.
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Chris O’Meara/AP
Southwest Airlines passengers check in near a sign that shows canceled flights at the Tampa International Airport on Tuesday.
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Ramon Espinosa/AP
Maria Llonch retrieves belongings from her home in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, on Tuesday.
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Willie J. Allen Jr./Orlando Sentinel via AP
Traffic builds along Interstate 4 in Tampa on Tuesday.
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Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters
A man carries his children through rain and debris in Pinar del Rio on Tuesday.
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Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters
People drive through debris in Pinar del Rio on Tuesday.
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Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Frederic and Mary Herodet board up their Gulf Bistro restaurant in St. Pete Beach, Florida, on Tuesday.
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Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
NASA’s Artemis I rocket rolls back to the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Tuesday. The launch of the rocket was postponed due to the impending arrival of Hurricane Ian.
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NASA via AP
Hurricane Ian is seen from the International Space Station on Monday, September 26.
Hurricane Ian reaches Cuba on Monday.” class=”gallery-image__dam-img” height=”1145″/>Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
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A Cuban family transports personal belongings to a safe place in the Fanguito neighborhood of Havana on Monday.
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Adalberto Roque/AFP/Getty Images
A family carries a dog to a safe place in Batabano on Monday.
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Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP
People wait in lines to fuel their vehicles at a Costco store in Orlando on Monday.
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Mike Lang/USA Today Network
Ryan Copenhaver, manager of Siesta T’s in Sarasota, Florida, installs hurricane panels over the store’s windows on Monday.
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Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Imagaes
A man helps pull small boats out of Cuba’s Havana Bay on Monday.
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Gregg Newton/AFP via Getty Images
Shelves are empty in a supermarket’s water aisle in Kissimmee, Florida, on Monday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Martha Asencio-Rhine/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire
Cathie Perkins, emergency management director in Pinellas County, Florida, references a map on Monday that indicates where storm surges would impact the county. During a news conference, she urged anyone living in those areas to evacuate.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Andrew West/USA Today Network
Sarah Peterson fills sandbags in Fort Myers Beach on Saturday, September 24.
The coastlines along Georgia and South Carolina may sustain significant alterations because the powerful waves and storm surges brought by Ian could inundate coastal sand dunes, according to the US Geological Survey. In addition to flooding communities behind the dunes, USGS said, the storm may push sand back and deposit it inland, which could “reduce the height of protective sand dunes, alter beach profiles and leave areas behind the dunes more vulnerable to future storms.”
