Florida reels as Ian moves on

• Published date: 01 October 2022

Hours after weakening to a tropical storm while crossing the Florida peninsula, Ian regained hurricane strength over the Atlantic. The National Hurricane Centre predicted it would hit South Carolina as a Category 1 hurricane early today

The devastation inflicted on Florida came into focus a day after Ian struck as a monstrous Category 4 hurricane, one of the strongest storms ever to hit the US.

It flooded homes on both the state’s coasts, cut off the only road access to a barrier island, destroyed a historic waterfront pier and knocked out electricity to over 2.6 million Florida homes and businesses — nearly a quarter of utility customers.

No one yet knows how many have died — a dozen fatalities have so far been confirmed — but a police official has estimated there could be “hundreds” of victims.

The US National Weather Service has already warned residents along the South Carolina and Georgia coastline of life-threatening “storm surges”.

One of the deadliest features of a hurricane — when offshore hurricane winds push ocean waters on to land — causes sudden monster rushes of water with little to no warning.

According to the New York Times, 15cm of water can knock over an adult, while a 60cm surge can lift a pick-up truck or SUV vehicle.

Speaking about the storm’s impact in Florida, US President Joe Biden said it was “the deadliest hurricane in Florida’s history,” and could bring “substantial loss of life”.

Distressing images of wrecked towns have emerged from the area which one reporter said was “apocalyptic”.

The state’s governor Ron DeSantis said the storm was “historic” and a “once in 500-year” flood event was now taking place.

It has left a trail of destruction through central Florida from Fort Myers to Daytona Beach via Orlando.

In the Fort Myers area, homes had been ripped from their slabs and deposited among shredded wreckage.

Businesses near the beach were completely razed, leaving twisted debris.

Broken docks floated at odd angles beside damaged boats and fires smouldered on lots where houses once stood.

“I don’t know how anyone could have survived in there,” William Goodison said amid the wreckage of the mobile home park in Fort Myers Beach where he’d lived for 11 years. Goodison rode out the storm at his son’s house inland.

The hurricane tore through the park of about 60 homes, many of them destroyed or mangled beyond repair, including Goodison’s single-wide home.

“I literally watched my house disappear with everything in it, right before my...