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| Photo Credit: AP. |
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A revived Hurricane Ian set its sights on South Carolina’s coast Friday and the historic city of Charleston, with forecasters predicting a storm surge and floods after the megastorm caused catastrophic damage in Florida and left people trapped in their homes.
With all of
South Carolina’s coast under a hurricane warning, a steady stream of vehicles
left Charleston on Thursday, many likely heeding officials’ warnings to seek
higher ground. Storefronts were sandbagged to ward off high water levels in an
area prone to inundation.
On Friday morning
in Charleston, powerful wind gusts bent tree branches and sent sprays of
steadily falling rain sideways. Streets in the 350-year-old city were largely
empty, an ordinarily packed morning commute silenced by the advancing storm.
With winds
holding at 85 mph (140 kph), the National Hurricane Center’s update at 5 a.m.
Friday placed Ian about 145 miles (235 km) southeast of Charleston and forecast
a “life-threatening storm surge” and hurricane conditions along the Carolina
coastal area later Friday.
The
hurricane warning stretched from the Savannah River to Cape Fear, with flooding
likely across the Carolinas and southwestern Virginia, the center said. The
forecast predicted a storm surge of up to 7 feet (2.1 meters) into coastal
areas of the Carolinas, and rainfall of up to 8 inches (20 centimeters).
In Florida,
rescue crews piloted boats and waded through riverine streets Thursday to save
thousands of Floridians trapped amid flooded homes and buildings shattered by
Hurricane Ian.
Florida Gov.
Ron DeSantis said at least 700 rescues, mostly by air, were conducted on
Thursday involving the U.S. Coast Guard, the National Guard and urban
search-and-rescue teams.
Ian had come
ashore Wednesday on Florida’s Gulf Coast as a monstrous Category 4 hurricane,
one of the strongest storms ever to hit the U.S. 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 2.6 million Florida
homes and businesses — nearly a quarter of utility customers. Some 2.1 million
of those customers remained in the dark days afterward.
Climate
change added at least 10% more rain to Hurricane Ian, according to a study
prepared immediately after the storm, said its co-author, Lawrence Berkeley
National Lab climate scientist Michael Wehner.
At least six
people were confirmed dead in Florida, including two who died Thursday
afternoon when their car hydroplaned and overturned in a water-filled ditch in
north Florida’s Putnam County, while three other people were reported killed in
Cuba after the hurricane struck there on Tuesday.
In the Fort
Myers area, the hurricane ripped homes from their slabs and deposited them
among shredded wreckage. Businesses near the beach were completely razed,
leaving twisted debris. Broken docks floated at odd angles beside damaged
boats. Fires smoldered on lots where houses once stood.
“I don’t
know how anyone could have survived in there,” William Goodison said amid the
wreckage of a mobile home park in Fort Myers Beach where he’d lived for 11
years. Goodison said he was alive only because he rode out the storm at his
son’s house inland.
The
hurricane tore through the park of about 60 homes, leaving many destroyed or
mangled beyond repair, including Goodison’s single-wide home. Wading through
waist-deep water, Goodison and his son wheeled two trash cans containing what
little he could salvage — a portable air conditioner, some tools and a baseball
bat.
The road
into Fort Myers was littered with broken trees, boat trailers and other debris.
Cars were left abandoned in the road, having stalled when the storm surge
flooded their engines.
Lee County
Sheriff Carmine Marceno said his office was scrambling to respond to thousands
of 911 calls in the Fort Myers area, but many roads and bridges were
impassable.
Emergency
crews sawed through toppled trees to reach stranded people. Many in the
hardest-hit areas were unable to call for help because of electrical and
cellular outages.
A chunk of
the Sanibel Causeway fell into the sea, cutting off access to the barrier island
where 6,300 people live.
Hours after
weakening to a tropical storm while crossing the Florida peninsula, Ian
regained hurricane strength Thursday evening over the Atlantic. The National
Hurricane Center predicted it would hit South Carolina as a Category 1
hurricane Friday.
National
Guard troops were being positioned in South Carolina to help with the
aftermath, including any water rescues. And in Washington, President Joe Biden
approved an emergency declaration for the state, a needed step to speed federal
assist for recovery once Ian passes.
The storm
was on track to later hit North Carolina, forecasters said. North Carolina Gov.
Roy Cooper urged residents to prepare for torrents of rain, high winds and
potential power outages.
Visiting the
state’s emergency operations center Thursday, Cooper said that up to 7 inches
(17.8 centimeters) of rain could fall in some areas, with the potential for
mountain landslides and tornadoes statewide.
Gomez Licon
reported from Punta Gorda, Florida; Associated Press contributors include Terry
Spencer and Tim Reynolds in Fort Myers, Florida; Cody Jackson in Tampa,
Florida; Freida Frisaro in Miami; Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida; Seth
Borenstein in Washington; and Bobby Caina Calvan in New York.