Hurricane Ian made landfall in Cayo Costa, Florida, on the afternoon of Sept. 28. As a Category 4 system, Ian is the third major hurricane since 2017 to make landfall in Florida. Gov. Ron DeSantis called the damage “historic.”

DeSantis said the state had never seen a flood event like what Ian caused. According to DeSantis Florida never seen storm surge of that magnitude, and it hit an area where there were a lot of people living in low-lying areas.

Ian formed as a tropical depression in the Caribbean Sea on Friday, Sept. 23. By midnight, it strengthened into a tropical storm, and forecasts predicted it would become a major hurricane before reaching Cuba.

Landfall trajectories varied greatly in the days leading to Ian’s arrival. On Sept. 24, the National Hurricane Center’s forecasting cone predicted landfall on the Florida Panhandle near Apalachicola as a Category 1 hurricane. Gradually, however, Ian’s forecast shifted expected landfall toward southwestern areas of the state with greater intensity.

Concerns were especially concentrated in the Tampa Bay area. The region includes over three million people within Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater and other adjacent communities. Additionally, it surrounds four bays that lead to the Gulf of Mexico, making it especially vulnerable to flooding. By Sept. 27, the center of the cone shifted 100 miles south of Tampa, with landfall expected near Sarasota and Fort Myers as a Category 3 hurricane. Outer bands from Hurricane Ian reached south Florida less than two days before the storm made landfall.

Over 2.5 million Floridians were ordered to evacuate. Ian intensified to a Category 4 hurricane on Sept. 28 with peak wind speeds of 155 mph, persisting from 7 a.m. to landfall at 3:05 p.m. The duration of the storm, its slow movement at 9 mph over Florida and heavy winds combined to wreak havoc along the coast.

Over a million customers were left without power by 5 p.m., and the figure doubled by the following morning. Storm surge broke records in Fort Myers at 7.26 feet. Rainfall totals varied throughout the state, but several areas reported totals above 12 inches.

Some residents who did not evacuate captured shocking footage of the hurricane’s impacts. One video showed an unmanned motor yacht moving through flooded roadways in the town of Sanibel. In Naples, a resident filmed a house that was removed from its foundation floating adrift in several feet of rushing water.

In Tampa Bay, counterclockwise winds took water out of the bay and into the Gulf of Mexico, lowering water levels in the city by at least 6 feet. Some residents walked on exposed surfaces that would normally be underwater.

Justin Michaels of The Weather Channel reported from Tampa Bay as he watched the phenomenon unfold.

“It’s amazing to watch it with your naked eye, to be able to see it actually happening,” Michaels said.

Images and footage after the storm captured widespread destruction in Fort Myers and neighboring areas that experienced the most severe impacts. Buildings were destroyed, debris littered the city’s streets and boats were piled together along the edges of docks.

Additionally, isolated tornadoes inflicted damage in areas hundreds of miles away from Ian’s center. As of 8:00 p.m. on Sept. 29, NBC News reported ten deaths related to the hurricane.

Share