Fallen electricity lines, metal and tree branches litter a street after Hurricane Ian hit Pinar del Rio, Cuba, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022 Fallen electricity lines, metal and tree branches litter a street after Hurricane Ian hit Pinar del Rio, Cuba, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022. (Credit: Ramon Espinosa/AP)

Hurricane Ian strengthened to a Category 4 storm in the early morning of September 27, 2002, as it makes its way toward Florida. A day earlier the hurricane made landfall in Cuba as a Category 3 storm.

In a social media briefing Tuesday evening, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said they expect the storm to make landfall near the Sarasota, Florida area Wednesday afternoon.

The NHC also warned that once Ian hits land in Florida, it will then slow to a "crawl," which could have a major impact on flooding. Life-threatening storm surge is also likely along Florida's west coast, with the highest risk spanning the region from Naples to Sarasota.

On Tuesday, CoreLogic released their storm surge predictions for Hurricane Ian. Their figures – which assume Ian will intensify as it crosses the Gulf and arrive in the U.S. as a Category 4 storm – show over 1 million single- and multi- family homes with a rebuilding cost of $258.3 billion are threatened by the hurricane. Ian's slower speed and rapid intensification, they say, further increases the risk of damaging storm surge.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis held a press conference Tuesday evening in which he encouraged Floridians to heed evacuation warnings. He estimated around 2.5 million people were under some kind of evacuation order, and that 35 school districts had already canceled classes in anticipation of the hurricane. Tolls in the affected areas have been suspended, and the governor said the Florida Department of Transportation has plans in place to open road shoulders for emergency traffic if the sustained speed of evacuation traffic dips under 40 mph.

DeSantis also said 5,000 Florida National Guardsmen, 2,000 National Guardsmen from other states and Florida Fish and Wildlife had all been activated and were standing by to help citizens when the storm hits. The entire state of Florida is currently under a state of emergency.

Additional resources for those in the path of Hurricane Ian can be found at FloridaDisaster.org.

NOT FOR REPRINT

© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.