Hurricane Ian’s most damaging winds began hitting Florida’s southwest coast Wednesday, lashing the state with heavy rain and pushing a devastating storm surge after strengthening to the threshold of the most dangerous Category 5 status.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., —
Ian’s center was about 25 miles west of Fort Myers at 2 p.m. Wednesday, as it churned toward toward the coast at 9 mph . The storm was expected to spend a day or more crawling across the Florida peninsula, dumping flooding rains of 12 to 18 inches across a broad area, including Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville.
More than 2.5 million people were under mandatory evacuation orders, but by law no one could be forced to flee. The governor said the state has 30,000 linemen, urban search and rescue teams, and 7,000 National Guard troops from Florida and elsewhere ready to help once the weather clears. Forecasters predicted Ian would make landfall more than 100 miles south of Tampa and St. Petersberg, likely sparing the densely populated Tampa Bay area from its first direct hit by a major hurricane since 1921.
The size of the storm also grew, with tropical storm force winds extending 175 miles from the hurricane’s center.
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Hurricane Ian nears Florida landfall with 155 mph windsST. PETERSBURG, Fla., (AP) — Hurricane Ian rapidly intensified as it neared landfall along Florida's southwest coast Wednesday morning, gaining top winds of 155 mph (250 kph), just shy of the most dangerous Category 5 status.
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Hurricane Ian nears Florida landfall with 155 mph windsHurricane Ian rapidly intensified off Florida's southwest coast Wednesday morning, just shy of the most dangerous Category 5 status.
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