Hurricane Ian latest updates: 1.8 million in Florida lose power as storm rips through state – live

“Terrifying…and the worst is yet to come.”

The reports coming in from Florida residents experiencing Hurricane Ian are striking. From the Associated Press:

Mark Pritchett stepped outside his home in Venice around the time the hurricane churned ashore from the Gulf of Mexico, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) to the south. He called it “terrifying.”

“I literally couldn’t stand against the wind,” Pritchett wrote in a text message. “Rain shooting like needles. My street is a river. Limbs and trees down. And the worst is yet to come.”

Some residents have chosen to stay in their homes, including Jared Lewis, a Tampa delivery driver, who told the Associated Press that his home has withstood hurricanes in the past, though not as powerful as Ian.

“It is kind of scary, makes you a bit anxious,” Lewis said. “After the last year of not having any, now you go to a Category 4 or 5. We are more used to the 2s and 3s.”

As a Category 4 storm slams the coast of Florida, nearly every home and business in three counties was without power, the Associated Press reports:

• In all, more than 1.8 million Florida homes and businesses were without electricity.

• In Naples, the first floor of a fire station was inundated with about 3 feet (1 meter) of water and firefighters worked to salvage gear from a firetruck stuck outside the garage in even deeper water, a video posted by the Naples Fire Department showed.

• News anchors at Fort Myers television station WINK had to abandon their usual desk and continue storm coverage from another location in their newsroom because water was pushing into their building.

• Flash floods were possible all across Florida. Hazards include the polluted leftovers of Florida’s phosphate fertilizer mining industry, more than 1 billion tons of slightly radioactive waste contained in enormous ponds that could overflow in heavy rains.

Ian’s strength at landfall tied it for the fifth-strongest hurricane when measured by wind speed to strike the U.S. Among the other storms was Hurricane Charley, which hit nearly the same spot on Florida’s coast in August 2004, killing 10 people and inflicting $14 billion in damage.

Sheriff’s office chooses not to evacuate downtown Fort Myers jail: report

This is Lois Beckett, picking up our live coverage of Hurricane Ian, from our West Coast bureau in Los Angeles.

The jail in downtown Fort Myers is in a mandatory evacuation zone, but the local sheriff decided not to evacuate the jail, leaving an unknown number of people incarcerated there during the storm, the Miami New Times reports.

A spokesperson for Lee county sheriff Carmine Marceno told the Miami New Times that “in the event of an emergency, we have procedures in place”, and that the people incarcerated in the jail were safe. The spokesperson declined to tell the paper how many inmates were currently in the facility.

The sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Meteorologists in Florida are facing dangerous conditions reporting from the field, prompting criticism of broadcasters for putting employees in harm’s way.

The National Weather Service and local authorities have advised residents to remain sheltered – away from hazards including falling tree branches and power lines.

Here’s what the hurricane looked like from the International Space Station, which flew over the region earlier today, just as it was making landfall.

The flamingos at St Petersburg’s Sunken Gardens are riding out the storm in the bathroom.

In 1992, the Miami Zoo sheltered its flamingos in a similar way. Zoo animals are difficult to move, and during major storms, they are often moved to sheltered or secure structures within the grounds.

Curfews were issued for the coastal communities in Collier county and Fort Myers, starting this evening.

The governor also warned that people should remain indoors, even after the worst of the storm appears t have passed – as many fatalities occur in the aftermath of hurricanes, due to downed power lines and issues with generators.

“In Hurricane Irma, there were seven fatalities directly because of the storm, and there were 77 that were a result of post-storm,” he said.

Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis said that the storm’s impacts are widespread, even in places far from where it made landfall.

“This is a big one, and I think we all know there’s going to be major, major impacts,” he said.

The governor said the storm’s surge has likely peaked, according to state meteorologists.

Dramatic video has emerged of the storm surge captured by a camera 6 ft off the ground on Estero Boulevard in Fort Myers Beach, Florida amid Hurricane Ian.

The video shows torrential floods and powerful winds with trees blowing intensely in the background.

Numerous people are trapped by water in their homes, Collier county sheriff’s office announced on Wednesday afternoon.

“Here’s some tough news you need to know. We aren’t holding back,” the sheriff’s office said.

“We are in call triage mode. We are getting a significant number of calls of people trapped by water in their homes.

Some are reporting life threatening medical emergencies in deep water. We will get to them first.

Some are reporting water coming into their house but not life threatening. They will have to wait. Possibly until the water recedes,” they added.

Collier county is home to approximately 370,000 people and is also facing widespread power outages.

Over 1 million Florida residents are without power, according to PowerOutage.us.

As of 5.27pm ET, 1,295,261 residents in Florida are going through power outages. Charlotte county is currently the hardest hit, with 96.61% of its residents without power. Out of the 127,498 customers tracked, 123,178 are out.

The second hardest hit county is Lee county, with 85.45% of the customers without power, or 403,161 out of 471,806 customers who are tracked.

The National Hurricane Center has issued an updated advisory on Hurricane Ian, stating that the hurricane is expected to move across central Florida tonight and Thursday morning and weaken as it progresses.

The hurricane is expected to emerge over the western Atlantic by late Thursday and will likely turn northward on Friday and approach the north-eastern Florida coast, Georgia and South Carolina coasts by late Friday.

“Maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 140 mph (220 km/h) with higher gusts. Ian is a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale,” the advisory stated.

“Further weakening is expected for the next day or so, but Ian could be near hurricane strength when it moves over the Florida east coast tomorrow, and when it approaches the north-eastern Florida, Georgia and South Carolina coasts late Friday.”

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 50 miles (85 km) from the center and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 175 miles (280 km),” it added.

The US Coast Guard has initiated a search on Wednesday for 23 people who tried to cross the Florida Straits in the midst of Hurricane Ian.

According to border patrol agents, four migrants swam to shore on Stock Island in the Lower Keys around 7am on Wednesday, the Miami Herald reports.

In a statement to the outlet, Coast Guard spokeswoman petty officer Nicole Groll said the group told border patrol agents that they were with 23 other individuals on a boat, including a group of Cuban migrants. The boat sank in the storm, she added.

“Our crews took a calculated risk to brave the tropical storm force winds going through the Keys on the chance of people being alive in the water and being able to bring them home,” said Groll.

Over 7,500 people are currently hunkering down in Hillsborough county shelters.

In a Facebook post around an hour ago, the Hillsborough county Sheriff’s Office said that over 7,500 residents are in in the county’s shelters and thanked them for abiding by warnings.

“We know the decision to leave behind your home and head to a shelter to ride out #HurricaneIan, is not an easy one to make. Thank you for heeding warnings and making sure you and your loved ones are safe!” the post said.

“#teamHCSO has deputies as shelters and across the county to ensure the safety and security of our community!” it added.

Hillsborough county is home to Tampa where its mayor Jane Castor has urged residents to not go “running outside” citing downed power lines and trees as safety concerns.