Hurricane Ian, one of the most powerful storms on record in the United States, caused flooding in southwest Florida on Thursday, cutting power to more than 1.8 million people.
According to the PowerOutage portal, which compiles information on blackouts in the United States, more than 1.8 million people were affected by blackouts that left many counties in Florida without electricity or with partial supply.
“At 3:05 a.m. (8:05 a.m. in Lisbon), the center of Hurricane Ian made landfall near Key Coast, Florida as a category four hurricane,” the second highest level, with winds over 180 kilometers per hour. hour, the US National Hurricane Center said.
In a post on Twitter, the center warned that “catastrophic storm surge, wind and flooding” would continue as the storm moves inland.
About 2.5 million people were ordered to leave their homes in 18 Southwest Florida counties before Ian arrived, whom the center described as “extremely dangerous.”
About 21 million people live in areas that could be affected by blackouts and floods in the next few hours, caused by a hurricane that could cause more than 67,000 million dollars (68,800 million euros) in material damage, according to the Bloomberg agency.
On the east coast of Florida, the hurricane brought heavy rain and tornadoes were recorded in areas around Miami causing two injuries.
Flash flooding is possible throughout the state, posing a hazard from waste from the phosphate fertilizer mining industry in the lagoons.
More than a billion tons of slightly radioactive debris can be displaced by heavy rains.
The Federal Government has dispatched 300 ambulances with medical teams and is prepared to transport 3.7 million meals and 3.5 million liters of water once the storm passes.
Hurricane Ian had already passed through Cuba, killing two people and leaving the power grid of that Caribbean country out of service.
The governors of Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina have preemptively declared states of emergency.
Forecasters predicted Ian will pass through those states as a tropical storm, likely bringing heavy rain, after crossing Florida.
Source: TSF
